An Ideal Place for Expanding Family Office Business
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Over the past two decades, Asia has seen the fastest family wealth accumulation in the world. The wealth of billionaires in Mainland China has been accumulating at an astonishing speed, resulting in a surging demand for family wealth management service. As a premier international financial centre and wealth management centre, Hong Kong offers many unique advantages for family offices to operate and grow and here are some of them.
Multi-family office specialists Pacific Hawk set up in Hong Kong more than two decades ago. Since then, its CEO Ann Cooley has witnessed an explosion of wealth in Asia. “Markets have become more sophisticated,” she noted. “As patriarchs and matriarchs have gotten older, succession planning has become more prevalent. With this surge in wealth also comes a steady influx of new opportunities. We see growth in the GBA as being a plus to obtain more clients, enhance our investment strategies and collaborate with other groups on new technologies and ideas. InvestHK is a trustworthy source for delivering high level global insights, thought-provoking interviews from opinion leaders, and an entrée to a pool of strategic relationships.”
Kwan Chi Man, Founder and CEO of Raffles Family Office, believes that Hong Kong is the perfect home for family offices to prosper. “Hong Kong serves as a dominant gateway to connect investors from Asia and global markets. It is an idea place for us to engage prospects and clients on dialogues of their succession plans.”
CEO of Shanghai-based Hywin Wealth Management Wang Dian, sees Hong Kong as the best way for a Chinese company to reach an international clientele. “Only with Hong Kong can we achieve integrated client coverage, coordinated delivery of a global proposition, and agile responses to cross-border trends,” stated Dian.
Hefeng’s Founding Partner and Managing Director Jiang Songcheng, observed that the family office industry in Hong Kong is developing rapidly. “Hong Kong has all the software and hardware requirements that are ideal for the family office industry.”
DL Family Office serves ultra-high-net-worth (UHNW) families in Greater China. Andy Chen, Co-founder believes Hong Kong's status as an international financial hub is irreplaceable. “From being a window for China accessing the world in the 70s, to a bridge connecting Mainland enterprises to international market since the 90s; today, the city has transformed itself to an ideal place for wealth management.”
Quintar Capital is another family office specialist founded in Hong Kong. Its CEO Jürg Niederberger explained, “Hong Kong ticks all the boxes for a base of operations: location, interconnectivity, currency, time zone, accessibility, tax regime and, above all, its convenience.”
InvestHK’s Global Family Office Team
To encourage family offices from around the world to set up a presence in Hong Kong, InvestHK has set up a dedicated family office team. It is a strategic initiative supported by the Financial Services and Treasury Bureau and works in conjunction with regulators and industry stakeholders.
The family office specialists, who are located in Hong Kong and in key business cities and work alongside InvestHK’s network of 32 global offices, offer bespoke solutions for family offices. These include identifying opportunities, providing support during set-up and helping newly established family offices to become part of Hong Kong’s vibrant financial ecosystem.
Congratulatory Message from The Honourable Paul CHAN Mo-po, GBM, GBS, MH, JP
Financial Secretary
The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
I’m pleased to congratulate InvestHK on the opening of FamilyOfficeHK.
The family office business is flourishing, becoming a significant growth segment for the international asset- and wealth-management industry. Asia is at the heart of it all, the region’s ultra-high-net-worth investor population expanding 12 per cent last year – five times more than the global average, according to Knight Frank’s 2021 “Wealth Report.”
Hong Kong is the natural home for Asia’s family-office business. We are the only city in the world that offers a secure, dynamic environment for business and unrivalled access to the Mainland economy.
A leading international financial centre, Hong Kong is blessed with professional services experience and expertise. We have what it takes to serve the wide-ranging financial and investment needs of family offices. Our deepening economic integration with the Mainland offers family offices even more investment diversity. Hong Kong is, after all, the world’s largest offshore renminbi business hub. We are also the biggest source of overseas direct investment in the Mainland and the leading destination for the Mainland’s foreign direct investment. And, as mutual access among financial markets in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area opens up, so too will Hong Kong’s advantages as a hub for family offices.
Now, thanks to InvestHK, we can build on our advantages. More than a new brand name and logo, FamilyOfficeHK opens with an experienced team headquartered in Hong Kong, and dedicated FamilyOfficeHK professionals setting up in Beijing, Guangzhou and Brussels. Together, they will prove indispensable to family offices, assisting in their planning, management and expansion, as well as their communications with regulators, government departments and other stakeholders. FamilyOfficeHK will, in short, champion Hong Kong as Asia’s family-office hub.
This Government is committed to that goal. Last August, we launched the Limited Partnership Fund regime. It has been a resounding success, registering more than 200 funds in its first eight months and raising Hong Kong’s status as an international asset- and wealth-management centre. We are also looking to help foreign funds set up in Hong Kong and have established a task force to review tax arrangements. We are, in short, determined to boost Hong Kong’s appeal as a family-office hub.
My congratulations, once again, to InvestHK for bringing FamilyOfficeHK to vital life and, in doing, creating more good reason for the world to turn to Hong Kong for business opportunity.
(Mr Paul MP CHAN )
Financial Secretary
The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
Congratulatory Message by Christopher Hui, JP
Secretary for Financial Services & the Treasury
The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
I would like to extend my warmest congratulations to the Grand Opening of FamilyOfficeHK and express my gratitude to those who have devoted to the establishment of this dedicated office seeking to provide one-stop service to all interested in this emerging sector.
As a rapidly thriving industry in recent years, family office business for sure is one of the growing engines for Hong Kong's prosperity and economic growth. Leveraging on our strengths as an international financial centre with a unique edge under the "one country, two systems" principle, we strive to consolidate our status as an asset and wealth management hub, seeking breakthroughs in developing family office business in Hong Kong.
Asia, especially the Mainland, is a region of rising importance in the global context, particularly in terms of finance. According to Knight Frank’s Wealth Report 2021, Asia will see the fastest growth in ultra-high-net-worth individuals (UHNWIs) over the next five years, at 39% compared with the 27% global average. The Mainland saw the most significant year-on-year increase in its UHNWI population in 2020. The growth of UHNWIs opens up an enormous market for family offices. Taking advantage of Hong Kong’s position in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, the growth in UHNWIs in the Mainland will be a key push factor in the development of family office business in Hong Kong.
The Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau fully supports the work of FamilyOfficeHK. We will spare no effort in creating a facilitating environment for family offices and the asset and wealth management industry in Hong Kong. We will continue to work closely with regulators and other industry stakeholders to capitalise on opportunities ahead.
I have every confidence that FamilyOfficeHK will lead the continued growth of family office business in Hong Kong and may I wish the office every success in its future endeavours.
(Mr Christopher Hui)
Secretary for Financial Services & the Treasury
The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region