Perpetual is an Australian investment fund and trustee group in the S&P/ASX 200. The company provides investment products, financial advice, philanthropic and corporate services to individuals, families, financial advisers and organisations.
History
Perpetual was conceived in 1885 by a committee of business professionals with the purpose of forming a trustee company. The committee included Edmund Barton, Australia's 1st Prime Minister, managing director John Street of the Street family and chairman James Fairfax of the Fairfax family.
The Perpetual Trustee Company (Limited) was officially formed in 1886, originally based at 105 Pitt Street Sydney. John Pewtress, an accountant, became the first employee. In 1888, a special act was granted to Perpetual (the power) to act as a corporate executor and trustee by the NSW Legislative Assembly. An increasing number of prominent citizens appointed Perpetual as executor or trustee of their estates – in many cases for generations.
Perpetual continued to develop a strong and secure reputation throughout the First World War and The Great Depression. At that time, Perpetual Trustee Company controlled trust estates to the value of £50,000,000, making it easily Australia's largest trustee company. In 1935 all staff were required to sign an ‘Obligation of Secrecy’ book, a practice that continued until 1988.
In 1963, The Perpetual Executors & Trustees Association of Australia Ltd (Victoria) and Queensland Trustees Ltd, which had operated in their own states since the 1880s, merged with Perpetual Trustee Company Ltd (NSW).