19/07/22

WEALTH MANAGEMENT: Hong Kong Woos Family Offices Via Brussels.

As published on finews.asia, Tuesday 19 July, 2022.

The government of Hong Kong has newly stationed an officer in Brussels, Belgium to attract European family offices to invest in the city.

The Hong Kong government will station an officer in Brussels – the so-called capital of the European Union – to encourage European family offices to invest in the city, according to an SCMP interview with Eddie Cheung, head of the Hong Kong Economic Trade Office in Brussels.

"Family offices tend to be conservative and seek to diversify risk. Hong Kong’s attractiveness is that it is a pivotal center for family offices’ diversification strategy to gain exposure into assets in mainland China and Asia," Cheung said.

"The business contacts we have met during the many handover events are realistic and they just want to know more about the business opportunities in China, particularly the Greater Bay Area. Hong Kong is the ideal location for them to learn more about the mainland business environments."

The new officer in Brussels is currently undergoing the recruitment process and will report for duty in the fall. Based in Cheung’s office, the officer will be responsible for promotional work in Germany, France, Italy, Switzerland and other European countries to attract family offices to invest or set up subsidiaries in Hong Kong.

Separately, Hong Kong government agency InvestHK launched a family office team in June last year to attract more families to invest their wealth and manage succession planning in the city.

Hong Kong will also vote later this year on a bill that could offer tax incentives to family offices that fulfill requirements such as minimum hiring and operating expenses.