In a feature for Asian Legal Business, Tahirah Ara, Managing Partner for Singapore and Head of Asia, alongside Vincent Sim, Managing Associate at Mishcon de Reya, discussed Singapore and Hong Kong's respective efforts in becoming the preferred hub for family offices in Asia.
Tahirah and Vincent noted that Hong Kong and Singapore are at different stages in attracting family offices and said: "One key challenge faced by Singapore is in facilitating the ease of doing business and investing in Singapore, while still having robust controls to deter criminals and detect illicit activities so as to ensure that the broader financial industry remains clean, credible and reputable. Another key challenge is in striking the balance between continuing to attract wealthy international individuals and families to invest in or establish family offices in Singapore and encouraging existing family offices to expand and grow in size and operations on the one hand, while ensuring that there are economic benefits generated for Singapore and mitigating any negative socio-economic impact on the other."
The firm is seeing strong interest for new family offices to be set up in both Hong Kong and Singapore. Notwithstanding the higher threshold for new family offices to meet in order to qualify for a tax exemption, Singapore continues to be an attractive jurisdiction for family offices.
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