Advertisement
Hong Kong reopens
Business

Hong Kong a family office haven thanks to deep pool of liquidity and diversified asset offerings, SCMP panel hears

  • John Lee, Hong Kong’s leader, has targeted having 200 large family offices set up in the city by 2025
  • Hong Kong is a ‘world-class capital markets platform for companies around the globe for raising funds, and for global investors to come invest their money,’ EY executive says

Reading Time:3 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
0
From left, the SCMP’s Enoch Yiu, Martin Hennecke of St James’s Place, Fan Cheuk-wan of HSBC Global Private Banking and Wealth, and Grace Tam of BNP Paribas at the SCMP panel on family offices in Hong Kong on Thursday. Photo: Dickson Lee
Enoch YiuandMia Castagnone
Hong Kong continues to be an ideal investment market in the Asia-Pacific region for family offices because of its deep liquidity, diversified asset classes and investible products, a financial forum organised by the South China Morning Post heard on Thursday. Returns are also likely to turn positive in the second half of 2023 after the effects of inflation and higher interest rates have subsided.

“We see increasing investment demand from family offices in Hong Kong and Asia for solutions that achieve global diversification,” Fan Cheuk-wan, managing director and chief investment officer for Asia, global private banking and wealth, at HSBC, told an in-person conference on “Global Family Office Hub” during the SCMP’s “Redefining Hong Kong Series” forum.

Family offices are companies set up by wealthy families or individuals to invest their wealth, handle succession planning and conduct charity work. In his first policy address last month, John Lee Ka-chiu, Hong Kong’s leader, set a target of having 200 large family offices set up in the city by 2025.

“For family offices in Hong Kong, the good thing is that they can access really world-class private-equity and infrastructure funds through private banks and wealth management companies in the city,” said Grace Tam, chief investment adviser, Hong Kong, and managing director at BNP Paribas Wealth Management. It is important for clients to have diversified portfolios for more “enhanced, risk adjusted returns in the long term”, she added.

Fan Cheuk-wan, managing director and chief investment officer for Asia, global private banking and wealth, at HSBC. Photo: Dickson Lee
Fan Cheuk-wan, managing director and chief investment officer for Asia, global private banking and wealth, at HSBC. Photo: Dickson Lee

Family offices will find Hong Kong’s business environment “very friendly”, said Jasmine Lee, managing partner of EY Hong Kong and Macau, who spoke in another session at the conference.

“Hong Kong is a regional financial centre with one of Asia’s largest cross-border private wealth management centres,” she said. “It is a world-class capital markets platform for companies around the globe for raising funds, and for global investors to come invest their money.”

Advertisement