Under Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Joseph Chan said that he was confident of achieving the target of attracting more than 200 family offices to Hong Kong by 2025.
The second Wealth for Good in Hong Kong Summit (WGHK) kicked off today (March 27) with a much larger than last year's event. Speaking in a newspaper interview, Chan said that since the first WGHK last year, he has received inquiries from hundreds of family offices, and more than 100 of them have expressed interest in setting up or expanding their business in Hong Kong.
A series of measures, including tax incentives, were proposed at last year's summit to attract family offices.
Chan said that the government was reviewing the implementation of the measures and listening to feedback from the industry, and would continue to refine the technical details of the measures.
He added that Hong Kong's tax incentives for family offices do not have local investment requirements, and with a free asset allocation mechanism, quality professional services, a simple tax system and no license requirement, HK is an ideal place to base their businesses.
As for HK's new Capital Investment Entrant Scheme, Chan said that more than 1,000 inquiries have been received in less than a month after its launch, describing the response as enthusiastic.
Asked whether Hong Kong was worried about being overtaken by Singapore, Chan cited a report by a consulting firm as saying Hong Kong ranked second in the world and first in Asia in terms of the size of its cross-border wealth management centers.
"What Hong Kong had to consider instead is to overtake Switzerland to become number one in the world in incross-border wealth management," he said.
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