59% family offices in Asia now located in Singapore

SINGAPORE: A recent report says that over half of the family offices in Asia—59 per cent—may be found in Singapore. A family office is a private wealth management firm catering to high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth individuals, aka the world’s uber-wealthy.

The second-richest man in Asia, India’s Mukesh Ambani, set up a family office in Singapore, as did Sergey Brin, the co-founder of Google who was once the ninth richest tycoon in the world; and US hedge fund investor Ray Dalio.

Several factors contribute to Singapore’s attractiveness for opening a family office, which is: that it’s one of the least corrupt countries in the world, its tax-friendly system and low corporate tax rate, its welcoming investment climate, and it is widely considered to be one of the best places in the world to do business.

“Singapore has got all the ingredients right to attract investment. It’s obviously a great place to live, with a stable currency and rule of law. It’s an international financial centre and hub for multinationals and talent,” said Anurag Mathur, the Head of Wealth and Personal Banking at HSBC.

Nine per cent of all family offices across the globe are found in Asia, says the 2023 Global Family Office Compensation Benchmark Report, recently published by KPMG Private Enterprise and Agreus, a family office consultancy Agreus.

There are about 20,000 family offices all over the world today.

The report notes that Asian family office CEOs have the widest range of salaries, between S$158,001 and S$500,000, while in Europe, they earn between S$291,237 and S$389,126. In the Americas, their salaries range between S$267,415 and S$356,551.

Family offices in Asia are different from those elsewhere around the world as nearly one-quarter of them (23 per cent) are less than two years old, and only 39 per cent have been in operation for over a decade.

In the Americas and Europe, in contrast, 60 per cent and 53 per cent, respectively, have been operating for more than 10 years.

Interestingly, nearly a quarter of Asian family offices (24 per cent) have assets under management (AUM) of between S$500 million and S$1 billion.

Those with AUM between S$1.1 billion to S$2 billion, S$251 million to S$500 million, and below S$250 million make up another 20 per cent of the family offices in Asia.

The Americas, on the other hand, have the highest percentage of family offices with AUM of more than US$5 billion (S$6.75 billion), at 9 per cent. In Europe and Asia, it’s 5 and 4 per cent, respectively. /TISG

DBS launches family office platform allowing ultra-rich to keep assets in Singapore without the need to move here