We were delighted to host our annual Wealth Solutions event in Singapore. Over 300 CEOs, COOs, senior management, product/fund gatekeepers, senior wealth planning and wealth structuring practitioners attended – from a mix of Private Banks, Retail Banks, Insurance Companies, Independent Firms & Family Offices, and IFAs.
Asian Wealth Solutions Forum 2018
Ballroom 1, Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Singapore

A community of leading organisations within Asian Wealth Management

Senior figures in Asian Wealth Management are speaking at this event

Rohit Bhuta

Sebastien Hayoz
Asiaciti Trust

Walter de Oude
Aviva Singlife

Kylie Luo
BDO

Dawn Quek
Baker McKenzie

Woon Shiu Lee
Bank of Singapore

John Shoemaker
Butler Snow

Zac Lucas
Centenal
Why you should attend Hubbis events

Experience our latest event for yourself
HUBBIS DIGITAL ASSETS IN WEALTH MANAGEMENT FORUM - SINGAPORE 2023
Ballroom 1, Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Singapore
Hubbis is delighted to announce we will be hosting the 2023 HUBBIS DIGITAL ASSETS IN WEALTH MANAGEMENT...
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8.55am
Welcome Address
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9.00am
Panel Discussion
Asian Families legacy and succession planning – what trends are we seeing?
- What are the practical considerations today for HNW clients in wealth protection?
- Do they even know what they own? How do they organise this?
- How are these needs developing? And how can you help clients understand these needs?
- Do we need to simplify the conversation with clients and go back to basics?
- What does the word ‘advice’ mean today – and who is licenced and capable of providing it?
- Are banks providing the services clients want – or just providing them the services they have to sell?
- Do clients understand what’s critical and what’s not?
- How are you upgrading your platform and services to make the most of this opportunity?
Chair
Speakers
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9.45am
Head - to - Head Q & A - Recent Trends and Developments in Investor Migration
- Global trends and developments in investor migration
- What’s driving investor migration for Asian HNWIs?
- Key considerations for HNWIs in relation to residence and citizenship planning
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9.55am
Presentation - Revisiting Family Governance
Will your family destroy your wealth, or will your wealth destroy your family?
Family dynamics should always be considered by Wealth advisers when structuring a wealth succession plan. In this presentation Marcus Hinkley will consider relevant family issues surrounding the succession of wealth, be it family governance, what’s in a family constitution, the impact of divorce, second marriages, balancing the expectations of children or the effects on family wealth of living longer.
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10.05am
Head - to - Head Q & A - Physical Gold – making a shiny and solid contribution to any portfolio
- Why should you buy physical Gold?
- How should you buy it? Or not buy it?
- Where should you store it?
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10.15am
Panel Discussion
Helping wealthy individuals and families protect themselves
- What trends and innovation are we seeing in the HNW insurance space?
- What are the opportunities and challenges?
- What's the role of insurance in tax optimisation and legacy planning?
- How can you better understand the insurance needs of HNW clients?
- Can you follow a simple process to increase sales?
- How can you discover the right opportunities and have a needs-based conversation with clients?
- How can you increase the likelihood of success after introducing a client to a broker?
- What's your role? What's the brokers role?
- What does the opportunity in helping wealthy individuals and family’s insurance meet their protection needs mean to you?
- Is UL - and the associated premium financing - now much less relevant? Whats replaces this?
- What do you think about whole of life policies as a HNW solution?
Chair
Speakers
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11.00am
Presentation - Where Next? Tax implications of residence planning for HNW families
- Overview of selected tax regimes in Europe
- Implications of family relocation on their income tax, wealth tax, inheritance tax, etc.
- Potential structuring solutions
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11.10am
Refreshment & Networking
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11.35am
Presentation - Single Family Office – let’s keep it simple
- Corporate Governance vs Human Being
- Key reasons to start a family office
- Is it for the ultra-rich only?
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11.45am
Presentation - A new look at Universal Life - Guaranteed returns and Liquidity in a volatile world
- Using Insurance as an Asset to reduce risk to your portfolio
- Take advantage of the Wealth Structuring benefits of HNW Insurance
- Learn about how High and Low Life cover Universal Life solutions to give you guaranteed returns and liquidity
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11.55am
Head - to - Head Q & A - Changes in the Industry
- What are the biggest challenges facing Asian families today?
- What about the future. Do Wealth Planners today need to change their act?
- You have worked in Europe, the Middle East and in Asia. Are there big differences in client concerns and the way advisers need to work?
- What have been the biggest changes you have seen in wealth planning over the last 30 years?
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12.05pm
Presentation - Wealth Preservation & Wealth Transfer – Knowns & Unknowns
- Are HNW clients’ wealth needs fulfilled by the insurance products in the market place?
- What opportunities remain overlooked or not yet fully-realised?
- How to better manage multi-jurisdictional assets with respect to wealth preservation?
- How can HNW clients achieve wealth transfer despite the regulatory and tax complexities in today’s world?
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12.15pm
Presentation - Avoiding common Multigenerational Wealth Planning Pitfalls
- Looting the legacy
- Monarch to mentor
- Transactional traps
- Death and Divorce
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12.25pm
Panel Discussion
The family business and wealth - transitioning across generations
- How can RMs have a proactive, sensible and sensitive conversation with families about succession and business issues?
- What do UHNW families in Asia need – and how is this changing?
- What’s your role in all of this? How can you help set the family agenda – and keep the family together?
- How can you avoid family disputes?
- What are the issues and how do they get resolved?
- How to fight and when to fight?
- How do you make relationships sticky across generations? What are the touch points you must have?
- How are the demands of the next generation different?
- What motivates them when it comes to topics like ESG and Phiolanthropy?
- What governance structure can you put in place to minimise tensions and enhance longevity of the structure?
- What shared values should drive family behaviour?
Chair
Speakers
Prof Gunter DufeyProfessor Emeritus of Corporate Strategy, International Business and Finance
PIBA SA
Jen Cher ChewSenior Wealth Planner - Wealth Planning, Family Office and Insurance Solutions
DBS Bank
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1.00pm
Presentation - Investment solutions from Asia’s robo-platform providers
- Theme-based Investing: thematic portfolios accessing big ideas
- Risk-based Investing: sensible investing delivered simply
- Goal-based Investing: engaging with customers for the long haul
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1.10pm
Lunch & Networking
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1.50pm
Room B – Workshop - Solutions on Wealth Preservation & Wealth Transfer For HNWs
This is a workshop to share the HNW clients’ needs and concerns on wealth preservation and inter-generational wealth transfer. At the workshop, we will discuss how a private placement life insurance (PPLI) and variable universal life (VUL) help solve the concerns of the HNWs. You should attend:
- If any of your clients own wealth internationally such as holding UK and US assets directly
- If any of your clients own London residential property
- If any of your clients are planning to move to Australia
- If you are looking for a solution to simplify CRS
- If any of your clients are very concerned about confidentiality when planning for succession
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1.50pm
Room B – Workshop - UK private tax client issues
- What are the Challenges arising from the UK Criminal Finances Act 2017?
- What does the new ‘Corporate Offences of Tax Evasion’ legislation mean for you?
- The Statutory Defense of ‘Reasonable Procedures’
- Unexplained Wealth Orders
- Are your structures / planning underpinned by the correct tax advice?
- Investing in UK property residential property: traps, pitfalls and planning tips
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2.30pm
Room A – Workshop - The World’s Leading Residence - and Citizenship-by-Investment Programs
- Overview of Immigration programmes
- The leading Citizenship-by-Investment Programs in the Caribbean
- European Citizenship-by-Investment in Malta and Cyprus
- Attractive European Residence-by-Investment Program
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2.30pm
Room B – Workshop - The EU has now adopted CRS Mandatory Disclosures Rules (MDRs) – what does this mean for you?
- How will MDRs affect professional wealth management advice?
- MDRs are intended to be retroactive to 2014, what do you do if you have been involved in avoidance arrangements in the last few years?
- How will the MDRs affect residence planning advice?
- How does the MDRs impact advice given by lawyers?
- How will the MDRs be enforced, can a MDR disclosure be used to prosecute the disclosing professional?
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3.10pm
Refreshment & Networking
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3.30pm
Panel Discussion
The new transparent world in which we live
- How do you get tax planning right? Does everyone know today how to comply with the law?
- How can we avoid duplicate reporting?
- What are the dangers of inaccurate data reporting and how to achieve more accurate reporting?
- Do Individuals have a right to see their own FATCA/CRS data? If so, will this create disclosure complications for the Trustee?
- What are the distinctions between Protectors, Enforcers, Consentors, Successors, Substitutes, etc. from a transparency perspective?
- What will be the role of the U.S. in the new transparent finance world?
- What are the structures that are used? What structures will be most relevant and effective in the future?
- People need to be very careful of publicity – PR and Social Media is an issue. How can they deal with that?New TAX developments in China and elsewhere?
- The EU has now adopted CRS Mandatory Disclosures Rules (MDRs) How will this affect professional wealth management advice?
- How will the MDRs affect residence planning advice?
- Are the existing ‘structures’ you have in place today for your clients still relevant? How do you keep clients up-to-date?
- Must clients put their money in the most reputable place so people know they are clean?
- What motivates a client today to have a ‘structure’ in an international financial centre?
- Why do you use one international financial center vs another?
- How does residency and citizenship planning help?
Chair
Speakers
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4.15pm
Panel Discussion
Will Singapore continue to be a very important financial centre?
- How is Singapore positioning itself in comparison to other financial centres?
- Is it becoming more important - in comparison to other centres - as clients become better informed
- What are you currently seeing in the private client world in Singapore?
- What are the key tax issues you are advising clients on today in Singapore?
- How will the tax system in Singapore change?
- Will reducing or removing tax exemptions dramatically change the value proposition that Singapore represents?
- Will the foreign trust tax exemptions be scrapped?
- What changes will we see from Singapore to make it even more appealing?
Chair
Speakers
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5.00pm
Forum Ends
Asian Wealth Solutions Forum 2018
Ballroom 1, Mandarin Oriental Hotel,Singapore


Rohit Bhuta

Sebastien Hayoz
Asiaciti Trust

Walter de Oude
Aviva Singlife

Kylie Luo
BDO

Dawn Quek
Baker McKenzie

Woon Shiu Lee
Bank of Singapore

John Shoemaker
Butler Snow

Zac Lucas
Centenal

Craig Ellis
Charles Monat Associates

Michael Troth
Citi Private Bank

Richard Vargo
DBS Bank

Jen Cher Chew
DBS Bank

Peter Triggs
DBS Bank

Edmund Leow
Dentons Rodyk & Davidson

Rohit Ganguli
EFG Bank

Gerard Gardner
EFG Wealth Solutions

Nicolas Mathier
Global Precious Metals

Marcus Hinkley
Hawksford

Daphne Chandra, IMCM
Henley & Partners

Nirbhay Handa
Henley & Partners

Gez Owen
Hubbis

Mark Smallwood
Hubbis

Tuck Meng Yee
JRT Partners

Prof Gunter Dufey
PIBA SA

Mark Nelligan
Pershing Singapore, a BNY Mellon company

Shadab Taiyabi
Quantifeed

Ian Kloss
Quilter International

David Denton
Quilter International

Vikna Rajah
Rajah & Tann

Pierre Vanrenterghem
Rosemont

Simon Lints
Schroders Wealth Management

Tan Woon Hum
Shook Lin & Bok

Malcolm K-L Lim
Sovereign Straits Trust

Laurence Lancaster
The Sovereign Group

Kimmis Pun
VP Bank
Asian Wealth Solutions Forum 2018
Ballroom 1, Mandarin Oriental Hotel,Singapore

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Asian Wealth Solutions Forum 2018
Ballroom 1, Mandarin Oriental Hotel,Singapore

We were delighted to host our annual Wealth Solutions event in Singapore. Over 300 CEOs, COOs, senior management, product/fund gatekeepers, senior wealth planning and wealth structuring practitioners attended – from a mix of Private Banks, Retail Banks, Insurance Companies, Independent Firms & Family Offices, and IFAs.
Below for your interest and reference are links to various content we captured from the day. Please click on the orange headlines – and do send any comments or feedback to [email protected].
Content Highlights
Video Highlights
Video Highlights Summary PDF
I love wealth management
Photos
Event summary
Panel discussions
Presentations & Wealth TALKS
Videos
Post-event Report
You might also like to view the full Post-Event Report – which is a consolidated summary, including photos of speakers & delegates, the attendee profiles & some delegate feedback, polling results, and more.
Event Summary
Asia’s HNW Families and the Wealth Management of the Future
As the Asian private banking and wealth management industry goes through various degrees of recalibration and strategic rethinking, Hubbis was delighted to host another remarkably successful event focussing on family wealth planning and succession planning, two vital and increasingly important areas in Asia as many of the founder-leaders of families retire or pass away and as a new era of regulatory rectitude and global enforcement takes grip.
Video Highlights
At the Hubbis Digital Wealth Asia Forum in Hong Kong on November 9th, we interviewed leading industry experts.
Full Video Highlights
Video Highlights Summary PDF
I love wealth management
Their individual interviews can be accessed below:
Brendan Dolan Old Mutual International
Craig Ellis Charles Monat
Gerard Gardner EFG Wealth Solutions
Marcus Hinkley Hawksford
Mark Smallwood HP Wealth Management
Woon Shiu Lee Bank of Singapore
Edmund Leow Dentons
Georgina Foord INTL FCStone
Zac Lucas Centenal
Tan Woon Hum Shook Lin & Bok
Nirbhay Handa Henley & Partners
Pierre Vanrenterghem Rosemont International
Rohit Bhuta Crossinvest
Rohit Ganguli EFG Bank
Sebastien Hayoz Asiaciti Trust
Simon Lints Shroders
Walter de Oude Singapore Life
David Denton Old Mutual International
James Tan Tokio Marine
Kimmis Pun VP Bank
Peter Triggs DBS Bank
Richard Vargo DBS Bank
Panel Discussions
We held 5 interactive panel discussions throughout the day – which involved 27 senior industry practitioners who we invited to participate and share their thoughts. We have also incorporated into the summaries below the briefing notes which speakers sent to us in advance of the event. Plus, we have included the results of audience polling as well as questions we received from delegates. Click on each headline to view the PDFs.
Developing Trends in Legacy and Succession Planning for Asia’s HNW Families
A panel of eminent wealth management professionals gathered at the Hubbis Asian Wealth Solutions Forum to set the scene for the broad discussion of high-net-worth (HNW) client wealth succession in Asia. The overall conclusions were that experience in dealing with wealthy families is ever more essential, expertise in a broad array of products and solutions are vital, as is a clear understanding on the regulatory implications of onshore and offshore solutions.
Panel members
Woon Shiu Lee Managing Director, Head of Wealth Planning (Trust and Insurance), Bank of Singapore
Rohit Bhuta Chief Executive Officer, Crossinvest
Gerard Gardner Global Head Wealth Solutions, EFG Wealth Solutions
Cynthia Lee Managing Director, Head of North Asia Wealth Advisory Team, JPMorgan Private Banking
Simon Lints Chief Executive Officer - Singapore, Schroders Wealth Management
Helping Wealthy Individuals Protect Themselves and their Families
Panellists met to discuss the market trends and dynamics in the high-net-worth (HNW) insurance space. While simpler products such as Universal Life (UL) have seen a downturn in sales, bespoke options that cater to the increasingly complex needs of customers are becoming highly sought-after.
Panel members
Richard Vargo Managing Director, Bancassurance, Consumer Investment & Insurance Products, DBS Bank
Rohit Kumar Ganguli Senior Wealth Planner, EFG Bank
James Tan Chief Executive Officer, Tokio Marine Life Insurance
Walter de Oude Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Singapore Life
Ian Kloss Head of Region, South-east Asia & Chief Executive Officer, Singapore, Old Mutual International
Craig Ellis Global Head of Products, Charles Monat
The Challenges of Transitioning Family Businesses and Wealth across Generations
Wealth managers in Asia are increasingly facing up to the challenge of retaining clients once wealth passes to the younger generations. “It is essential to build and retain what I can call the ‘emotional’ connection to the broad family,” advised one private banking head at the opening of the third panel discussion at the Hubbis
Panel members
Kimmis Pun Managing Director, Head of Private Banking, VP Bank
Michael Troth Head of Trust and Wealth Planning and Family Office - Asia, Citi Private Bank
Tuck Meng Yee Partner, JRT Partners
Prof Gunter Dufey Professor Emeritus of Corporate Strategy, International Business and Finance, U of Michigan Ross
Jen Cher Chew Senior Director, Wealth Planning, DBS Private Banking
Michele Ferrario Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer, StashAway
Asia’s HNWIs and Coping with Wealth Management in a Newly Transparent World
There is no doubt that the regulatory net is closing in on high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) and their families across the globe. Former questionable practices of the wealth management community and their clients will no longer be tolerated. A panel of experts at the Hubbis Asian Wealth Solutions event provided their insights into how advisers and their HNWI clients must adopt strategies to prioritise compliance and transparency.
Panel members
John Shoemaker Registered Foreign Lawyer, Butler Snow
Marcus Hinkley Head of Private Client Services - Asia, Hawksford
Malcolm K-L Lim Director, Sovereign Straits Trust
Zac Lucas Founder, Head of Legal, Centenal
Mark Smallwood Wealth Structuring and Client Advisor, HP Wealth Management
How is Singapore Expanding its Importance as a Wealth Management Centre?
Singapore is a full service international financial centre with well-devised government schemes in place to enhance its scope and reputation, as well as a commitment to low taxes. The government has done much to boost brand ‘Singapore’ and the country also offers an excellent lifestyle, good education, strong security and a reputed legal infrastructure. A panel of leading lawyers surveyed Singapore’s appeals as a wealth centre in the last panel of the Hubbis Asian Wealth Solutions event.
Panel members
Kylie Luo Executive Director, Tax, Private Client Tax Services LeaderBDO
Dawn Quek Principal in Tax and Wealth Management Practice, Baker McKenzie Wong & Leow
Edmund Leow Senior Partner, Dentons
Vikna Rajah Partner, Head of Tax, Trust & Private Client, Rajah & Tann
Woon Hum Tan Partner, Head of Trust, Asset & Wealth Management Practice, Shook Lin & Bok
Presentations
Below are summaries of the Presentations and Wealth TALKS delivered at the event. These were 10-minute slots hosted either by senior industry practitioners who we invited to speak (Wealth TALKS), or by some of our event partners (Presentations). Also listed with each summary are links to the presentation slides (where these are made available by speakers). Click on each headline to view the web versions of these – from which you can also access the 1-page PDFs.
Henley & Partners Highlights the Value of Overseas Residence and/or Citizenship
Nirbhay Handa, Client Advisor at Henley & Partners, highlighted his key message that there are a number of alternative residence or citizenship options within Asia and globally for Asia’s HNWIs and their families. He briefly highlighted the appeals of Thailand and Singapore or EU countries such as Malta and Cyprus and of some Caribbean jurisdictions. He strongly recommended that anyone in Asia considering these steps needs the best professional advice.
Changes in the industry
Peter Triggs, Managing Director, Regional Wealth Planning, DBS Private Bank, shares his views on changes in the industry in an exclusive interview with our CEO Michael Stanhope.
Global Precious Metals’ Mathier Extols the Virtues of Physical Gold
Nicolas Mathier, the Managing Partner of Global Precious Metals, told delegates at the Hubbis Asian Wealth Solutions event in Singapore why Asia’s wealthy investors should hold more physical gold. It offsets the volatility in the mainstream financial markets and it also offsets both the global financial system frailties and the ongoing regulatory proliferation, as it remains outside the global financial and regulatory infrastructure.
Wealth Preservation and Wealth Transfer The Role of Life Insurance Solutions
David Denton, Head of International Technical Sales for Old Mutual International, and Ian Kloss, Head of Region, South-East Asia & CEO for Singapore, are avid proponents of life insurance solutions for managing and preserving the wealth of Asia’s high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs), as well as for the complex needs of wealth transfer in an increasingly regulated world.Denton and Kloss gave their insights in some considerable detail in a detailed Workshop, focusing on the HNWI clients of the assembled advisers and intermediaries, telling them in some detail how life insurance as an investment is not only a financial solution but a structuring solution that will help Asia's wealthy families preserve and transmit their wealth to their younger family members.
Revisiting Family Governance for Asia’s Wealthy
Marcus Hinkley, Head of Private Client Services for Asia at Hawksford, believes that family dynamics should always be considered by wealth management advisers when structuring a wealth succession plan. In his presentation, he highlighted the various relevant family governance issues related to wealth succession in the current global environment.
Where Next? Tax Implications of Residence Planning for Asia’s HNW families
Pierre Vanrenterghem, Manager for South East Asia at Rosemont International is an expert in advising high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) and their families on the tax implications of their residence and possibly citizenship outside their countries of origin. Whether it is income tax, an assets tax, or inheritance tax, there are challenges and there are solutions, he told the audience.
The Single-Family Office: Keeping things Simple
Sebastien Hayoz, Managing Director of Asiaciti Trust, is a keen advocate of the single-family office. But is this the preserve of the ultra-HNWI family or is it a more democratic option for a wider range of wealthy families? Hayoz explained that Asiaciti Trust is an international trust and corporate services provider offering specialised wealth management solutions to HNWIs, intermediaries, business owners and corporations.
Avoiding Common Pitfalls Faced during Multi-Generational Wealth Planning
Mark Nelligan, CEO of Pershing Securities Singapore and an expert on the subject of inter-generational wealth planning and transmission, believes wealth management advisers must help open the eyes of their Asian high-net-worth (HNW) clients to the pitfalls of unstructured wealth transition planning and the dangers of poor thought and communication. In particular, he highlighted four common pitfalls, all of which must be strenuously avoided.
‘Wealth Care’ enters a New Age enabled by Asia’s Robo-Platform Providers
By 2020, Asia’s rapidly growing ranks of mass affluent will have amassed wealth of USD43 trillion. By 2025, another estimate – from accounting firm Deloitte - states that some USD16 trillion of global wealth will be managed by digital services. Shadab Taiyabi, Senior Executive, Strategic Partnership at robo-advisory platform provider Quantifeed, showed the enthusiasm he and colleagues have in building and delivering digital wealth management systems for financial institutions across Asia, explaining that technology will help facilitate the massive transformation in wealth management to a new age that Quantifeed calls ‘Wealth Care’.
The EU’s CRS Mandatory Disclosure Rules: Implications for Wealth Advisers in Asia
Zac Lucas, Founder and Head of Legal at Centenal, believes that front-line wealth advisers in Asia need to be fully aware of the expectations, liabilities and considerations they and their clients face due to the European Union’s new regulations. He explained that Mandatory Disclosure Rules (MDRs) are currently being implemented around the world as part of the wider application of the Common Reporting Standard (CRS). And these MDRs are soon heading to Asia. The new rules will create new personal liability for advisers promoting any CRS-avoidance and will, therefore, demand a level of transparency and disclosure never seen before.
Investor migration and the rise of the global citizen
Investor migration consultancy Henley & Partners presented a highly informative Workshop at the Hubbis Asian Wealth Solutions Forum to highlight some alternative overseas residence and citizenship options of appeal to Asian high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) and their families. Daphne Chandra, Country Head for Indonesia and Alexis Tan, senior manager, joined forces for the presentation. The reported that there is a great and growing demand for our residency and citizenship services in Asia and that the industry is a USD3 billion business worldwide. In Asia, delegates learned, almost 26% of the population of ultra-HNWIs already hold an alternative citizenship.
UK Private Client Tax Issues and the Asian HNWI – An Analysis and Update
The UK Criminal Finances Act 2017 might seem to be dissociated from the world of Asia’s high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs), but this and other invasive UK legislation of recent years have far-reaching implications, especially for those who have any assets in the UK. Gez Owen, Managing Director & General Counsel for Hubbis and Laurence Lancaster, Barrister-at-law and Group Head of Tax for international trust company Sovereign Group clarified addressed many of these matters that are potentially so relevant to Asia’s HNWIs, including the new ‘Corporate Offences of Tax Evasion’ legislation, ‘Unexplained Wealth Orders’ and others.
Asian Wealth Solutions Forum 2018
Ballroom 1, Mandarin Oriental Hotel,Singapore