When the pandemic began to disrupt business operations and ultimately our individual lives in early 2020, I assured all Public Trust clients that we were prepared and ready to proactively position their funds to best protect and serve their interests during these turbulent times. On March 15, 2020, the Federal Reserve made the decision to move interest rates to near zero while the Federal government expressed their overall concerns with the growing pandemic and economic uncertainty facing the nation; as a result, we quickly made the decision to remotely conduct all business operations for the safety of our staff.

We made swift decisions to prepare for volatility by reviewing our overall credit holdings, moving further into highly liquid market segments, evaluating the strength of our counterparties, and maintaining sufficient liquidity to be certain we met Participant needs. Our Marketing team reached out to all of our clients to reassure them that we would be there for them every step of the way; through all this, we remained fully operational through our contingency plan for what we believed would be a short period of time.

As we have all come to realize, the situation facing our country and the overall concern for the COVID-19 pandemic played out somewhat differently. Our first responsibility is always to keep our colleagues and teams safe, and their responsibility is to keep their families and children safe. While we had hopes of feathering our team back into our offices by mid-summer through the fall, we are still operating remotely to date and open for business, under normal business hours.

Through our overall strength and persistence, we have continued to grow and expand Public Trust across the country in the face of uncertainty. Without being able to have in-person conversations, we added more than 300 new local governments over the course of the year, helping them safely navigate the rapidly adjusting financial markets. We hired seven new team members in critical roles, allowing us to plan and build for the future. And we continued to achieve new milestones, with peak balances reaching an all-time high of $51 billion in assets under management and administration* as of June 30, 2020, all of which speaks to the stability and overall long-term vision for the firm.

As we prepare for another year, the message I leave with you is that we are here for you. We remain available and largely exist to help local governments manage their funds in varying market conditions and ways for the betterment of their communities.

Please know we are truly grateful that you continue to place your trust in us and are honored to continue serving you now and in the future. We look forward to sharing with you several exciting things we have planned for 2021 in the coming weeks so stay tuned! From everyone at Public Trust, we collectively wish you a very happy, safe, and healthy new year. 

Sincerely,