The trustee has the full authority to administer/manage trust fund assets. Any person with legal capacity may become a trustee. A legal entity may become a trustee only if the law explicitly allows this. The trustee is obliged to look after and increase fund assets and to fulfil the purpose of the fund. He/she can invest fund assets, but always within the scope of careful management and in light of any restrictions specified by the statute.
The possibility of the founder or beneficiary of a trust fund (or other person affiliated therewith) becoming its trustee cannot be ruled out. If the trustee is simultaneously the founder or beneficiary, then the trust fund must also have another co-trustee, who is neither the founder nor a beneficiary, whereas both co-trustees must act together in this case.
The trustee is nominated and dismissed by the founder, unless stipulated otherwise in the statute. Identification of the trustees and way of their acting on behalf of the trust fund is entered into the trust fund register. The trustee’s right to act on behalf of the trust fund may, therefore, be proven by a publicly accessible excerpt from the trust fund register.
Due to the fact that a trust fund does not have its own legal subjectivity, the trustee acts as a natural person, in his/her own name, when dealing with third parties. However, he/she acts on the trust fund’s account, and is thus not personally bound/liable for his/her actions in this position.