Trustee residual obligation: no basis for it

Abstract

Abstract This article discusses the recent decision of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal in Zhang Hong Li and others v DBS Bank (Hong Kong) Limited and others that has rejected the idea of a ‘residual’ or ‘high-level supervisory’ obligation upon trustees and accordingly endorsed the effectiveness of a well-drawn anti-Bartlett clause that sought to exclude any obligation upon the trustee to intervene in the management of an underlying company other than in the case of actual knowledge of dishonesty.