A family office is a privately-held company that manages wealth for ultra-high-net-worth families. The primary goal of a family office is to grow and preserve the family wealth such that the wealth can be transferred across generations. Services handled by the traditional SFO include investment management, property management, day-to-day accounting and payroll activities, and management of legal affairs. Often, they also provide family management services, including family governance, financial and investment education, philanthropy coordination, and succession planning.
Why is a family office needed?
You have worked hard your whole life to arrive where you are today. But given the world is changing at a rapid speed, there is no guarantee that your wealth can be preserved if you don’t put in a structure to grow and preserve your capital in a disciplinary manner. By having a family office, you will have a dedicated team of investment, legal and administrative professionals who understand your family, your strategic vision and who can ensure the growth of your family wealth and transfer it to future generations..
Why Singapore?
In deciding the domicile of your family office, you need to consider few important factors. With the government’s vision to grow Singapore as a private wealth management hub, Singapore stands out as one of the best locations to set up your family office.
Singapore is politically stable, and its government is generally pro-business. Singapore has always ranked highly in terms of its business friendliness. Companies can be set up in minutes. Bank accounts can be opened within days.
Singapore is a common law jurisdiction which means its legal and regulatory frame is fair, clear and transparent. Singapore is widely-recognized as having one of the most efficient and effective judicial systems in the world. A country’s legal framework is an important consideration when looking at where to site a family office. In this aspect, the Lion City again ranks favourably; top in Asia and the 13th best worldwide according to the most recent World Justice Project.
You will want your family office to sit in a low tax jurisdiction. Singapore’s marginal corporate tax rate is 17% and it has various tax incentives offered to funds managed by family offices located in Singapore. Furthermore, Singapore has over 100 Double Taxation Agreements (DTAs); if structured correctly, a Singapore-based family office is highly tax efficient.
How can CPH Advisory help?
CPH Advisory provides full services to families and high net worth individuals for the holding and consolidation of their assets; and to those wishing to protect and transfer wealth to the next generations.
- Wealth Structuring
- Succession Planning
- Asset Consolidation
- Private Investment Trusts
- Wealth Protection Plans
- Accounting and administration
- Tax Advice
Please feel free to contact us at [email protected] if you require more information.