What is Fiduciary?

A Fiduciary is an individual that is legally appointed and authorized to hold assets or information for other parties. A fiduciary is expected to maintain full disclosure, loyalty and diligence in their management and maintenance of a principal's (stockholder, customer, etc.) assets. A Fiduciary is forbidden from undertaking actions that leads to their own personal gain, typically by exploiting the principal's trust and confidence. As such, the law requires that a fiduciary exercises the highest degree of care and continuous good faith in the preservation of the principal's assets and rights,and in the event that this trust is deemed to have been broken, then fiduciaries are subject to strict punishments, including fines, payment of damages in compensation, and even imprisonment.