The latest moves and appointments at the Family Office Association Hong Kong, a trade association designed to promote dialogue between the family office industry, the government and regulatory bodies in Hong Kong.

The Family Office Association Hong Kong has appointed Teresa Lee, Michel Lee and Grant Ko to chair the newly-launched Wealth Management Sub Committee, Crypto Sub Committee and Education and Research Sub Committee respectively.

The new sub committees are joined to existing sub committees, including training and development, and legal and wealth planning, the organisation said in a statement this week. The sub committees are designed to bolster the association’s ability to promote themes linked to family offices and to enhance the family office ecosystem in Hong Kong.

The appointments align with Hong Kong's broader aim to step up its family offices and wealth management game. However, rival financial hubs such as Singapore and Dubai have challenged these ambitions, Teresa Lee, head of Greater China of Bank of Singapore’s Hong Kong Branch, continued.

With over 20 years of banking experience focusing on private wealth and family offices, Lee specialises in providing solutions for high net worth clients in Greater China. As chair of the Wealth Management Sub Committee, she will provide insight into the private wealth industry and foster dialogue between financial institutions and family offices, building a connected family office community to help wealthy families preserve their legacies across generations. 

Michel Lee is currently the executive president of HashKey Group. He has more than 25 years of international investment banking experience to which he brings expertise in capital-raising, new product developments and M&A transactions to the digital asset management business, the association said. As chair of the Crypto Sub Committee, using industry knowledge and training, Michel Lee will provide insights and guidance for this space to family offices.

Grant Ko, who is the co-founder and chairman of Wisdom Group Holdings, has over 25 years of experience in the financial services industry at multinational private banks covering the Greater China region. He also has experience in the asset management sector, advising wealthy families and individuals as well as corporates on wealth planning, portfolio management and investment markets. Ko leads more than 50 bankers and is well connected with private banks and investment banks. As chair of the Education & Research Sub Committee, he is committed to nurturing young talent, providing guidance and opportunities to next generation and new joiners to family offices, and helping them gain insights into the growing family office industry.

Additionally, the former British colony is determined to protect its pre-eminent position.

In the mainland, Hong Kong and Macao are now linked under the recently-launched Wealth Connect system for affluent/HNW clients. According to a 2022 report from Boston Consulting Group, Hong Kong is slated to overtake Switzerland as the world’s largest centre for cross-border flows. (That report was, of course, issued prior to the UBS takeover of Credit Suisse following a run of scandals and missteps by the latter bank, a saga that has hurt Switzerland's reputation.)