Eastern Family Offices Find Hope in Jersey
Posted on 01/04/2021
A family office can be described as a privately-managed entity that supports a wealthy family with the governance, administration, investment and use of its assets, the management of risk, and the organization of certain aspects of its lifestyle. Increasingly, as businesses thrive and the growth of family offices increase in the Asia-Pacific region, capital needs to find new homes. Due to growing political instability in parts of Asia and economic issues in some areas of the Middle East, some wealth families are looking to Jersey to setup family office operations. In particular, wealthy families from areas such as Hong Kong and the Middle East, are concerned about seizure of assets by political means and threats to nation state sovereignty when it comes to protecting large amounts of wealth. Second, there is a major transfer of wealth occurring in Asia, from elderly high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth individuals to the second generation and beyond to the younger generations.
Jersey is the largest of the Channel Islands, between England and France. Many of these wealthy families look to Jersey as it is viewed by the European Union as a cooperative jurisdiction in terms of good tax practice and transparency. Furthermore, Jersey has tight links with both the U.K. and France, as well as strong legal foundations. Family offices typically desire a well-regulated jurisdiction with a great reputation. Last, Jersey has built up a substantial market of professionals in investments, accounting, and legal sectors.