Independent Wealth Management Forum 2018

We were delighted to host our annual Independent Wealth Management event in Hong Kong.  Over 300 CEOs, COOs, CIOs, senior management and consultants 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
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 - a strong platform for continued expansion of independent wealth

The independent wealth management sector in Asia is still relatively minor compared to the coverage of the major private banks and other large wealth firms, but those who have already established their business models see even better times ahead. The Hubbis Independent Wealth Management Forum attracted a wide range of panellists, speakers and attendees who left at the end of the day with a more comprehensive vision of the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead for the independent asset management (IAM) firms and multi-family offices (MFOs) in Asia.

Video Highlights

At the Hubbis Independent Wealth Management Forum in Hong Kong, we interviewed leading industry experts. 
Full Video Highlights
Video Highlights Summary PDF
I love wealth management

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.

The Differentiation Game: How the Independents Survive and Prosper
To survive as an independent, or external, wealth adviser or asset manager you need to differentiate your offerings both to clients and to the ‘street’ so that you can win and retain customers and top-level hires. A panel of experts gave their insights at the Hubbis Independent Wealth Management Forum, highlighting the opportunities and challenges for today…and tomorrow.

Panel members
Tariq Dennison  Investment Specialist, Retirement Plans, GFM Asset Management
Urs Brutsch  Managing Partner & Founder, HP Wealth Management
Kenneth Ho  Managing Partner & Founder, Carret Private Capital
Oliver Balmelli  Deputy Chief Executive Officer and Head of Private Banking EFG Bank, Singapore Branch
Jaydee Lin  Executive Director, Raffles Family Office
 

The Opportunity Presented by the Growing Private Wealth in China
The growing private wealth in China represents an outstanding opportunity for wealth management professionals both within and outside China, as there is an urgent need for properly qualified advisers who can help wealthy families navigate the brave new world of compliance, whilst ensuring their assets achieve the best returns and their offshore structures are optimised.

Panel members
Nigel Rivers  Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Capital Solutions
James Russell  Director, First Names Group
Michael Olesnicky  Partner, Special Advisor, KPMG
Jacqueline Shek  Executive Director, Trust Services, ZEDRA
Peter Golovsky  Managing Director, Global Head of Fiduciary Services and Head of Asia, Cone Marshall

How can Independent Wealth Managers Grow their Platforms and Offerings?
How do the independent wealth advisers and asset management firms attract the right people and then retain them, when it is so tough to train younger professionals in-house? How do the smaller firms create and impose their identity in an intensely competitive industry? Is consolidation in the sector inevitable, especially in face of rising regulatory burdens? 

Panel members
Mark Brady  Executive Director, Institutional Asset Management, Venture Smart
Jon Dingley  Head of Private Wealth, CBH Asia
Riccardo Lehmann Managing Director, Swiss-Asia Asset Management
Rohit Bhuta  Chief Executive Officer, Crossinvest

Products and Platform: What is the EAM Value Proposition, Today and Tomorrow?
Are third-party digital platform providers offering external asset management (EAMs) the products, service and price they need to compete effectively with the ongoing digitalisation of private bank platforms? Aside from product, which is becoming increasingly commoditised, how can EAMs differentiate themselves? Will technology efficiencies and the ensuing cost savings be offset by higher regulatory costs? There was only one clear consensus, that the independent wealth sector will grow apace in Asia, just as it has in developed markets such as Switzerland.

Panel members
Damian Hitchen  Chief Executive Officer, Middle East & Asia, Swissquote
Werner Schlossmacher  Managing Director, Platform Solutions Group, APAC Solutions, Markets, Asia Pacific, Credit Suisse
Harold Kim  Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Neo Risk Investment Advisors
Keith Wong  Chief Executive Officer, Winland Wealth Management
David Varley  Chief High Net Worth Officer, Sun Life Hong Kong, Sun Life Financial
Sandro Dorigo  Chairman, Founding Partner, Leonteq Securities
David Friedland  Managing Director, Asia Pacific, Interactive Brokers

Products and Strategies for Asia’s HNWIs Amidst Ongoing Market Volatility
A panel of Asia-based investment experts closed out the Hubbis Independent Wealth Management Forum by highlighting the quite dramatically different equity and bond market conditions that appear to have set in for the foreseeable future. If there was a single overriding message from all the participants, it was that mainstream financial markets are heading back towards normalisation. That means there will be higher risk, returns will be more elusive and therefore that smart investment strategies are essential. 

Panel members
Nicholas Hulme  Executive Director, General Manager Unigestion Asia, Unigestion
Tony Wong  Head of Wealth Solutions, Sales & Product Strategy, CSOP Asset Management
Alain Groshens  Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer, SystematicEdge
Tobias Bland  Chief Executive Officer, Enhanced Investment Products
Terry Tsang Chief Investment Strategist, Premia Partners

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.

Gold’s Appeals as a Non-Correlated Asset Outside the Global Financial System
David Fergusson, Chairman of Global Precious Metals told the audience that Asia’s wealthy investors should hold physical gold to offset volatility in their mainstream financial investment portfolios, as well as because gold is outside the global financial and regulatory infrastructure.

Existential Risk and the Need to Embrace the Digitisation of Wealth Management
Swissquote serves its entire global client base of more than 300,000 customers entirely through a digital interface. Damian Hitchen, CEO for the Middle East and Asia, believes the digital revolution is picking up steam and warns that those in the wealth management industry who do not embrace change face possible extinction as smarter, bigger and more resourceful entrants pile in.

Wealth Management trends in Asia amidst a World of Change
Irene Lee, Head of Business Development, Intermediary and Partnership for Asia at Hawksford, is based in Singapore and looks after clients across the region, from India to China. Her role gives her a unique perspective on the growth and opportunities for the wealth management industry in Asia, as well as deep insights into the current and future drivers of change, for example, the new and ever-tighter regulatory and compliance demands now emerging both globally and within the region.

Wealth Preservation and Wealth Transfer – The Role of Life Insurance Solutions
David Denton, Head of International Technical Sales for Old Mutual International, considers insurance solutions ideal for managing multi-jurisdictional assets, for wealth preservation and for the ever-complex needs for wealth transfer in an increasingly regulated world.

Asia: Home to Innovation, Fertile Ground for Tomorrow’s Corporate Leaders
Asia is catching-up and even leading the West in the new age, growth areas through their own home-grown innovation, Chris Chan told the audience at the Hubbis Independent Wealth Management Forum. Chan is the portfolio manager at EFG Asset Management, which has a new Future Leaders initiative, aimed at identifying and tracking Asia-Pacific's corporate innovators and leaders.

The Revival of the Employee Benefit Trust
James Russell, Director of First Names Group addressed the audience at the Hubbis Independent Wealth Management Forum to highlight the resurgence of the Employee Benefit Trust and alert wealth advisers to the key advantages, and a few possible pitfalls, for advisers and their clients. He said that with the right strategy, Hong Kong can remain at the forefront of the market.

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 at the Hubbis Independent Wealth Management Forum.

Funding the Best Starts-ups: How Asia’s Wealthy can Become Super-Angels
Ian Sosso, Founder & Managing Partner of Monte Carlo Capital, has a passion for detecting the best start-up around the world. An ex-investment banker and today a lecturer on venture capital in Monaco, his company has helped unearth some exciting opportunities that have produced remarkable returns. He wants to spread the word amongst Asia’s high-net-worth investors.

Existential Risk and the Need to Embrace the Digitisation of Wealth Management
Swissquote serves its entire global client base of more than 300,000 customers entirely through a digital interface. Damian Hitchen, CEO for the Middle East and Asia, presented a Workshop to explain how Swissquote’s digital platform works and how the firm can dramatically enhance the capabilities of Asia’s external asset management (EAM) community. 

Global Residence and Citizenship Options Tailored for Asia’s HNWIs and Families 
Jonathan Tang, Sales Director in Hong Kong at investor migration consultancy Henley & Partners, presented a detailed Workshop at the Hubbis Independent Wealth Management Forum to highlight some alternative overseas residence and citizenship options of appeal to Asian high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) and their families.

Managed Accounts: A Rapidly Growing Global Market Marching into Asia
Managed accounts are growing in stature in Asia’s wealth management industry. Owned by individuals, managed by a professional entity, they are now worth an estimated USD7 trillion. Anthony J. Harper, CEO & co-founder of Axial Partners presented a workshop on what is one of the fastest growing segments of the wealth market.