The Hong Kong legislature will discuss a bill offering tax incentives to family offices in the second half of this year as it plays catch-up with regional hub Singapore, a plan that some lawmakers said might be a case of “too little, too late”. Lawmakers will debate the law change under a new administration and a new chief executive after Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor , Hong Kong’s current leader, said on Monday that she would not seek re-election and step down on June 30. “The proposed tax incentives would help Hong Kong to expand its wealth management industry by attracting more wealthy families to invest here. However, it maybe too late as Singapore has offered tax waivers since 2020, while Hong Kong has only started to discuss such incentives,” said Edmund Wong Chun-sek, a practising director at Patrick Wong CPA who also represents Hong Kong’s accountancy constituency in the city’s legislature. Several lawmakers voiced similar concerns after they were briefed about the proposal by Undersecretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Joseph Chan Ho-lim during the monthly Financial Affairs Panel on Monday. Family offices are set up by wealthy families to invest their fortunes and manage their succession planning. Hong Kong private banks and other wealth management firms invested about HK$2 trillion (US$255 billion) worth of family offices’ assets in 2020, an increase of 46 per cent over the previous year, according to a survey by the city’s Securities and Futures Commission cited by Chan during the discussion. “With our comprehensive financial services platform, as well as a liquid capital market that is uniquely connected to mainland China, Hong Kong is the natural choice for ultra-high-net-worth individuals to manage their portfolios in the region,” Chan told the panel. “The multiplier effect of family offices could be tremendous in bringing businesses to financial and related professional services, as well as channelling capital to our IPO [initial public offering] market, venture capital and private philanthropy.” A recent exodus of talent because of Hong Kong’s tight quarantine rules will further reduce the city’s competitiveness when compared with Singapore, which was already reopening its borders, the lawmakers said. The number of expats entering Singapore from Hong Kong had almost doubled between January and March, according to the latest figures by the Singapore Tourism Board. Chan, however, said Hong Kong could catch up with the proposed tax incentives and other promotions in recent years. InvestHK , a government agency that promotes the city as an international financial centre, had helped 11 family offices set up here since it launched a family office team in June last year, he said. The Hong Kong government would like to implement the new incentive within this financial year. Family offices that want to benefit from the tax break must hire at least two people in Hong Kong and have an annual operating expenses of at least HK$2 million. Hong Kong had more than 9,500 ultra-high-net-worth individuals with more than US$30 million in investible assets as of 2020, the second-highest among global cities and trailing only New York, according to a Knight Frank report that Chan cited. According to wealth data provider Wealth-X, Hong Kong had 111 billionaire residents, the second-largest such population among urban centres in the world, in 2020. The city added 15 individuals with a net worth of at least US$1 billion each that year, said the latest report by US-based Wealth-X in September last year. New York topped this list too, with the most number of billionaires at 124. Singapore has, however, bypassed Hong Kong this year as the better city to invest and live in, according to one survey. The Lion City was ranked seventh worldwide in the city wealth index compiled by Knight Frank in March, ahead of Hong Kong in eighth place. The number of licensed family offices in Singapore increased by five times between 2017 and 2020 to more than 400, while Hong Kong only had 50 such firms licensed by the SFC . Chan, however, said that Hong Kong did not require family offices that were investing for a single family to apply for a licence, so the actual number could be much higher.