Fiduciary

A person or organization legally bound to act in the best interest of their clients (and put those interests ahead of their own).  Within finance, many roles may be seen as carrying fiduciary responsibility.  This can be found in the relationships between trustee and beneficiary, board members and shareholders, and executors and legatees.  Within investment, a fiduciary is anyone with the legal responsibility of managing someone else’s money (for example, a member of an investment committee).  In many cases, this means that no profit can be made by the fiduciary unless it is expressly approved at the start of the relationship.  For this reason, stockbrokers have a less stringent standard of fiduciary duty to their clients.