The current economic climate and the financial upheaval of the past two years have caused many ultra-wealth owners and family members in Asia to reconsider their family’s goals as well as the processes and resources they rely on to manage their wealth. Likewise, the challenge for family office staff and wealth advisors is to demonstrate and articulate the value of their service offering in a way that is meaningful for each owner. As such, case studies on family offices issues would provide great referential help to ultra-wealth owners and family members as well as family office staff and wealth advisors to enable them to better plan their next course of actions.

We trust that family office owners and practitioners would gain invaluable insights and practical solutions from our collection of case studies and could readily apply them in their practices to meet their day-to-day family office challenges.

SFO maintains its devotion to Members as a primary educational resource in the field of wealth management by offering interesting case studies as suggested supplementary readings. We go through the extra miles to gather these case studies from multiple sources with the sole aim of showcasing success stories of other family offices in the context of family office wealth management.

Below are two examples of case studies that reflect some real-world challanges and solutions to wealth management:

Sample Case Study 1

Facts

Mr. Limpo and his wife live in Hong Kong. They are 79 and 75 respectively and were born in Southern Europe. They are planning to stay in Hong Kong for the rest of their lives. Their only son lives in Hong Kong and their four children live in the U.K and Monaco at the moment.

They have been advised by their banker that they should set up one or more trusts to “protect their assets” from creditors, gold-digging spouses of their grandchildren as well as from political change. Their son is on his fourth marriage to a woman half his age. The assets in question include Asian trading companies owned in their own names or through nominees, real estate in Europe countries held in their own names or through offshore BVI companies, valuable works of art and other collections in their home in Hong Kong and portfolios of investments held in their own names which include private equity investments.

The bank has trust companies in Singapore and Bahamas and is keen that Mr. Limpo and his wife settle their trust or trusts in one of these jurisdictions. Mr. Limpo wonders if Jersey might be better. The bank would also like the Limpos to use a Private Trust Company so that they can control the assets.

Sample Case Study 2

Facts

Sanjay and Venita are Indians and were born there. They are both 55 years old and have lived in and run their business from the U.K. for the past 10 years not are now planning to move to Switzerland. They own real estate in the U.K in their own names. They also own real estate in India. Their total wealth is over €500m. Sanjay intends to continue in be involved in the business in the U.K. but to a lesser extent. Venita's health is now poor and she will no longer be involved in the business.

They have two children who are in their thirties. Their son live in the Dubai, is a banker, is not married, has no children and is about to move to U.K. to take over the running of the family business. Their daughter is currently working in the U.S. for her European employer but plans to return to the U.K. within the next year. She would like to find a husband. She has had a number of relationships but is concerned that men are just after her for her family's money. She is considering adopting a child once she is bank in the U.K.

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