Hong Kong takes step towards becoming Asia’s hub for wealthy families to protect their fortunes

Hong Kong faces stiff competition from Singapore in its efforts to become the regional centre for family offices
InvestHK, a government agency, has set up a new team to help boost the city’s chances

Wealth management

Enoch Yiu

Published: 5:30pm, 29 Jun 2021

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Invest Hong Kong, a government agency that promotes the city as an international financial centre, has launched a family office team in a bid to attract wealthy families to come here to invest their fortunes and manage their succession planning.

It marks the government’s latest effort to push Hong Kong ahead of Singapore in what bankers say is a a battle between the two to become Asia’s hub for family offices – corporate entities that ultra-wealthy families use to structure their investments and preserve their riches.

“Hong Kong can win due to its stock market and its proximity with mainland China,”said Stephen Phillips, director-general of investment promotion at InvestHK, at a briefing on Tuesday.

“The family offices want to diversify their investment. Hong Kong has an active stock market which is much bigger than Singapore’s. Hong Kong is also one of the largest market in the world in wine and arts trading. These provide a lot of alternative investment opportunities for family offices.”

The FamilyOfficeHK team of eight people will have its own office in Admiralty, close to Central where it houses a cluster of family offices. It will aim to link up the family offices with thousands of bankers and professionals in the city to help them open bank accounts and set up offices here.

In September, InvestHK introduced an information portal for family offices, while the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) issued guidance on the licensing regime to prospective family offices that may set up in Hong Kong.

Mario Ho Yau-kwan, the youngest son of the late Macau casino tycoon Stanley Ho Hung-sun, recently set up a family office platform to help wealthy families tap opportunities in the fast-growing Greater Bay Area.

“The family office business has flourished in recent years, becoming an important growth segment in the wealth and asset management industry. The set-up of our family office team is a milestones in promoting Hong Kong as an ideal location for family offices,” said Dixon Wong, who will head the new team.

The upcoming Wealth Management Connect scheme which will allow cross-border investment in fund products between Hong Kong and the mainland is likely to provide growth opportunities for family offices too.

“The Greater Bay Area has 20 per cent of the ultra-high-net-worth customers in China – people with more than US$30 million of assets. They would like to cross the border to invest in Hong Kong which is one of the world’s largest stock markets, while we also have a lot of private equity funds here,” Wong said.

There were 196 dollar-denominated billionaires in Hong Kong, Guangzhou and Shenzhen last year, according to the Hurun Research Institute.

Besides investment options, Phillips said Hong Kong’s lifestyle and entertainment offerings were also a draw for wealthy families.

“The Jockey Club in Hong Kong provides horse racing and other activities here. The many arts events here also made Hong Kong an attractive place for wealthy families to come,” he said.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: HK family office team targets rich Asians

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