Styling Business Account Owned by Trust
by Mary Beth Guard and John Burnett Guru BIOS
Question: I am aware that a trust may be the owner of a DBA, but for FDIC purposes, what type of ownership
should be reflected on the signature card? Sole proprietorship or fiduciary?
Answer: Fiduciary. A trust cannot be a sole proprietor. The use of the acronym “DBA” does not have anything
to do with sole proprietorship. It only means that the owner of a business (an individual, a partnership, a trust, an LLP,
a corporation or any other entity) is operating a business using a name other that its own.
“DBA” means “doing business as.” “Sole proprietorship” signifies a business owned by an individual natural
person. The two terms should not be used interchangeably.
The original version appeared in the September/October 2004 edition of the Oklahoma Bankers Association Compliance Informer.
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