What is the difference between a trust account and bank account?

	Trust Account	Bank Account
Legal Title	Trustee (Trust Company)	Client
Autonomy	High. Trust is a non-disclosure agreement.	Low. It can be accessed by the judiciary.
Risk	Risk Isolation. Trust has no right to freeze the assets in the client's trust accounts. Creditors are unlikely to have the right to claim the asset in the trust unless any illegal activity is involved.	No Risk Isolation. Banks have the right to freeze the account for different specific reasons. Creditors also have the right to claim from it which client cannot achieve risk isolation.
Sustainability	Permanent. In Hong Kong, trust can exist indefinitely, and can thus be used to plan for multiple generations ahead, safeguarding capital and permitting longer-term, more strategic planning.	Not Sustainable. If a client has an accident, the bank account will be frozen until it is handled by the executor of the will who applies to the court for probate of the will. After a long process, the executor will determine how to manage the assets in the bank account according to the will.
Privacy	High. Under normal circumstances, only the High Court has the right to request access to trust account information and assets. Others, including beneficiaries, have no right to access any information on trust assets.	Low. Account information and asset whereabouts will be queried if there is a reason to do so,
Flexibility	High. Trust accounts accept not only cash but also overseas properties, precious metals, digital assets, etc.	Low. Banks mainly accept cases and are extremely unlikely to accept digital assets.
Services	Variable. Trust accounts can provide more global services such as offshore accounts, global investments, global payments, global asset transfer, etc.	Limited. Bank accounts only provide local bank services. Investment choice is limited to the bank's own products.