trusts
IN THE DAYS of the Crusades, when the knights of Christianised Europe set out for the Holy Land, they knew there was a fair chance of never returning from the battle zone. They therefore took steps, before departing, to provide for the financial needs of wife, family and dependants. This usually involved entrusting a male relation or friend with the assets and responsibility and sketching out the terms of a basic legal agreement.
This is how the first trusts came about. The concept has endured and is flourishing in the modern world as an important tool in financial planning and wealth management.
The trust industry has grown steadily in Hong Kong over the past 25 years. In fact, the Hong Kong industry is the most experienced in Asia, said Lau Ka-shi, chairwoman of the Hong Kong Trustees' Association. 'Local professionals in the sector are often asked to advise clients from Taiwan to Thailand, Singapore to China,' she said.
Even so, interest in trusts is still relatively new in the region, having really taken off only in the mid-1990s.
A survey conducted by KPMG on behalf of the association and the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP) estimated the total assets under administration by the trust industry at $2.83 trillion in 2004, 12 per cent more than the estimated $2.54 trillion in 2002.