Number of family offices based in Hong Kong could surpass Singapore ‘in a few more years,’ investment body predicts

InvestHK says city could overtake Singapore soon, despite a big gap in the number of family offices in the two jurisdictions at present
Prediction came as organisation said 382 mainland Chinese and overseas firms, mostly in finance sector, had set up in city or expanded last year

Hong Kong economy

Ezra Cheung

Published: 4:53pm, 2 Feb, 2024

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The number of family offices in Hong Kong could surpass Singapore in just a few years, despite a large gap at present, the director of the city’s investment promotion agency has said.

InvestHK on Friday added it had helped 382 mainland Chinese and overseas companies set up or extend their businesses in Hong Kong in 2023, a year-on-year increase of 27 per cent, which brought HK$61.6 billion (US$7.9 billion) to the city and created 4,100 jobs.

Alpha Lau Hai-suen, the body’s director general of investment promotion, said she believed Hong Kong’s portfolio growth was gaining “good momentum” despite facing global financial uncertainties.

“As companies were able to resume their Asian strategies after the pandemic, Hong Kong is a natural first choice as a business base for many global multinationals and entrepreneurs,” she added.

“We have already seen a very good number of family offices opening up in Hong Kong because, frankly speaking, we have a better deal, a better tax environment and we are very supportive.

“Family offices in Hong Kong, for last year, have already picked up to such an extent that, I believe, in a few more years will surpass Singapore in terms of registrations.”

Alpha Lau, InvestHK’s director general of investment promotion, says 382 mainland companies had set up shop or extended their business in the city in 2023. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

Lau, who assumed her role last November, did not reveal how many family offices were based in Hong Kong, but Christopher Hui Ching-yu, the financial services and treasury secretary, said last July that the government aimed to have 200 based in Hong Kong by 2025.

InvestHK said it had contacted 800 family offices around the world since its dedicated team was established in 2021.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore said more than 1,500 family offices were operating in the city state by 2022, with 200 more awaiting approval to open up in 2023.

InvestHK’s latest statistics showed that the 382 new businesses came from 45 jurisdictions.

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Mainland China took the lead with 136 firms, followed by Britain with 48 and the United States at 34. Most of the companies focused on finance-related activity.

There were 90 involved in financial services and fintech, 82 in innovation and technology, and 45 in professional services.

Lau said the agency would continue to prioritise innovation and technology, financial services and family offices and boost its promotion efforts in strategic markets, such as the Middle East and Asean economies.

The agency last year secured memorandums of understanding (MOUs) with sovereign wealth funds in Saudi Arabia and Egypt for cooperation on investment promotion exchange and support.

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Other MOUs signed included ones with the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the commerce authorities of the mainland provinces of Zhejiang and Jiangsu.

Lau added that InvestHK was seeking to open economic and trade offices in Egypt and Turkey, and that one of them would be established this year.

She dismissed fears that foreign investors might be deterred by the prospect of Hong Kong’s home-grown national security legislation, mandated under Article 23 of the Basic Law, the city’s mini-constitution.

Lau said all the overseas chambers of commerce and consulates general she had spoken to had no special concerns about the legislation and that they were not worried about it affecting the business environment.

Economist Simon Lee Siu-po, an honorary fellow at the Asia-Pacific Institute of Business at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said he disagreed with Lau, citing a general lack of certainty and confidence in the city’s economic outlook.

“We need to see whether the Hang Seng and housing indexes will rise in the coming one or two years,” he said. “The Hang Seng Index is unreasonably weak at the moment, indicating a lack of confidence.”

Family office is about money. Money needs certainty, not uncertainty

Simon Lee, economist

He added that the market would need more time to observe how Article 23 would be implemented after it came into force.

“Family office is about money. Money needs certainty, not uncertainty,” he said.

Last week, the city’s stock market benchmark index slid below 15,000 points, falling to its lowest level in 15 months as investors were left unimpressed by Beijing’s lack of stimulus to fuel an economic recovery.

City leader John Lee Ka-chiu said that despite the drop, the market was still operating in an orderly manner and that no abnormalities were observed.

The share price of the stock exchange plunged by a quarter last year, with its market value shrinking by nearly US$14 billion, making it the worst performer among the 24 listed securities and commodity exchanges worldwide.

Property transactions in Hong Kong fell to their lowest level in 33 years in 2023, with the sluggish market demand forcing authorities to suspend residential and commercial plot sales in the last quarter of the current financial year.

On Friday, the Hang Seng Index closed at 15,533.56, down 0.21 per cent.