10/05/19

ASIA: Chinese family office is granted Hong Kong licence.

As published on internationalinvestment.net, Thursday 9^th May, 2019.

Hefeng Family Office, a Guangzhou-based wealth management firm, has been granted licences to trade in Hong Kong.

The licence was confirmed from the financial regulator, the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), which has approved several such mainland-based family office licences in recent months.

Hefeng's Hong Kong office will be headed up by Stephen Pau, chief investment officer, and Songcheng Jiang, the company's founding partner.

The SFC said that both asset management and advisory activity will be limited to professional investors. Other Hefeng offices are located in Beijing and in offshore centres across Asia, Europe and the United States.

Family offices are increasingly a key component of Hong Kong's private wealth industry. A 2018 survey of Hong Kong-based wealth managers, carried out by KPMG and the Private Wealth Management Association (PWMA), revealed that 41% confirmed that family offices are an increasingly important source of business.

Hong Kong has been repositioning itself to be more of a regional hub for family offices, given the concentration of UHNWs residing in the territory.