Speech by SFST at Raffles Family Office Annual Forum 2025
Following is the speech by the Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Mr Christopher Hui, at the Raffles Family Office Annual Forum 2025 today (October 8):
Chi Man (Group Chief Executive Officer of Raffles Family Office, Mr Kwan Chi Man), Minister Murangwa (Minister of Finance and Economic Planning of the Republic of Rwanda, Mr Yusuf Murangwa), ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests,
It is a profound honour to address you at the Raffles Family Office Annual Forum 2025. I extend my heartfelt gratitude to the organiser for convening this distinguished gathering.
The theme of this year's forum, "The Decade Before, A Century Beyond," resonates deeply with the evolving mission of family offices: to preserve wealth, foster values, and also drive positive impact across generations.
Family offices are undergoing significant transformation, and I wish to share with you a few defining trends that we observed. Firstly, family offices are enhancing governance structures and also investment processes, formalising investment opportunities, adopting institutional-style governance to ensure efficiency and also clarity in decision-making, often separating operations from family offices.
Secondly, there is a growing focus on private markets, with family offices increasingly allocating capital to private equity, co-investments, and also direct investments in companies, moving away from purely passive public market investments and adopting fund structures to centralise asset management, achieve scale, and also facilitate succession planning.
And thirdly, driven by collaboration, especially at a global level, family mobility and diverse investment opportunities, family offices are expanding globally and also enhancing services with custom solutions, such as estate planning, insurance, technology adoption, and also collaboration with banks, insurers and wealth tax, to meet these evolving needs.
All these three trends that I mentioned, professional governance, diversification into private assets and also global operations sophistication, position family offices well to thrive in an era of rapid technological disruption, evolving economic paradigms, and also growing societal expectations. Hong Kong, as a global financial hub, is uniquely positioned to support this journey, offering a platform where bold ideas can flourish and also legacies can endure for generations to come.
The Government is steadfast in our commitment to positioning our city as the premier hub for family offices in Asia and beyond. Our unique advantages - a robust legal system, world-class financial infrastructure, strategic proximity to the Mainland, and a competitive and simple tax regime - make us an ideal destination for family offices, including those from Africa of course, seeking to establish or expand their operations. Through a multipronged approach, in collaboration with regulators and our industry stakeholders, we have implemented a comprehensive suite of policies to create a conducive and also competitive environment for global family offices.
A key pillar of our strategy is the profits tax exemption for family-owned investment holding vehicles managed by single family offices here in Hong Kong. This measure reduces the cost of operating here, enabling families to optimise their wealth management strategies and also focus on long-term growth and also legacy building. By alleviating tax constraints, we empower family offices to allocate resources strategically, aligning with their goals of intergenerational wealth preservation and also impact. We will also be expanding the qualifying investments for tax concessions to include private credit and other new asset classes, aligning with the new trend of sector I just highlighted.
Recognising the crucial role of talent and expertise, as highlighted by Chi Man just now, we established the Hong Kong Academy for Wealth Legacy two years ago under the Financial Services Development Council. This academy serves as a collaborative platform to network, share knowledge, and also to train specialised talent to family offices, asset owners, and wealth inheritors. The academy has recently celebrated its second anniversary and has delivered over 20 capacity-building events in collaboration with partners and thought leaders, engaging over 3 000 family asset owners and next-gen leaders in dialogues and also legacy planning. By fostering positive financial management values and also strengthening the talent pool, the academy supports the professionalisation of the sector, ensuring family offices have access to the expertise needed to thrive in a competitive landscape.
Another initiative that I would highlight is our New Capital Investment Entrant Scheme (new CIES) further enriches our ecosystem by attracting high-net-worth individuals and their capital to Hong Kong. Eligible investors who make investments of HK$27 million or above in eligible assets and place HK$3 million into the new CIES Investment Portfolio, as managed by Hong Kong Investment Corporation Limited, may reside and pursue development in Hong Kong. Recent enhancements demonstrate our responsiveness; from March this year, investments through wholly owned private companies counted towards the threshold, and net asset assessment and calculation requirements have also been relaxed. Moreover, the threshold of the transaction price of residential real estate is now reduced, while the aggregate cap for the total investment amount in real estate is also raised. These measures create synergies with our tax concession regime, encouraging more family offices to anchor in Hong Kong and contribute to our vibrant financial ecosystem.
Beyond fiscal and operational support, we are fostering Hong Kong as a global centre for philanthropy and cultural innovation. Initiatives include developing art storage facilities at our airport, which cater to the growing interest in luxury assets among family offices. In additional, we are promoting Hong Kong as a philanthropic hub, aligning with the aspirations of many family offices to drive positive social impact. These efforts resonate with the forum's theme of building legacies that extend beyond financial wealth, contributing to a better future for communities worldwide.
Our policies have delivered tangible results. We set a target to facilitate at least 200 family offices to establish or expand operations in Hong Kong by the end of 2025 - a goal we proudly achieved ahead of schedule in September this year. As announced in the latest Policy Address, we target to attract an additional 220 family offices to Hong Kong from the year of 2026 to the year of 2028, further enriching our market size.
Finally, the third Wealth for Good in Hong Kong Summit, our flagship event for family offices, was held in March this year under the theme "Hong Kong of the World, for the World". It convened family offices to discuss technology, artificial intelligence, philanthropy, and also cultural innovation, fostering collaborations to create a sustainable future. This summit underscores Hong Kong's role as a convener of global ideas and a catalyst for positive change, aligning with the aspirations of family offices to create a lasting impact. I am very glad to share that it will return once again next year.
Before I go, I would like to congratulate Chi Man for organising this event, and also choosing the right colour for the forum because it is in the same colour of the Chief Executive's 2025 Policy Address. At the same time, as Chinese say, it takes 10 years to grow a tree but a hundred years to cultivate a talent, so I am sure it is just the start of a new journey and the use of a tree pattern here is very apt.
Again, the Raffles Family Office Annual Forum 2025 embodies the spirit of "The Decade Before, A Century Beyond." It challenges us to learn from the past, engage with the present, and build a future where family offices thrive as stewards of wealth and values. Hong Kong invites you to leverage our unparalleled advantages - robust policies, strategic location, and a dynamic financial ecosystem - to establish or expand your operations. Our comprehensive support, from tax exemptions to talent development, positions Hong Kong as the premier destination for family offices seeking to build legacies that endure. Together, let us weave the tapestry of the future, drawing from the lessons of the past decade to create a century of prosperity, impact, and responsibility.
Thank you.
Source: AI-found images
