The group, which was formed at the start of 2024, describes itself as a non-profit concentrating on the intersection of philanthropy, cultural guardianship and education.

A group with about 120 family offices around the world is to use Hong Kong as a centre for conducting philanthropy, education and cultural preservation across the Asia-Pacific region, the South China Morning Post quotes its chairman as saying.

The Asian Family Legacy Foundation, which was founded in January, held its inauguration ceremony in the St Regis Hong Kong hotel on Wednesday last week.

Its website says: “As a non-profit, we stand at the intersection of philanthropy, education, and cultural guardianship, dedicated to advancing societal wellbeing across Asia and beyond.”

“We see Hong Kong as a prominent and vibrant city for building family legacies, particularly for family offices,” Michael Zhu, chairman of the Asian Family Legacy Foundation, reportedly said after the ceremony. 

The foundation will carry out activities in Hong Kong that allow its global members to work together, network, and raise funds to donate to charity projects in education, heritage protection and other community services across Asia.

Some of the 120 members have already run family offices in Hong Kong for many years, while others work from the mainland, Asia and Latin America, the report said.

Hong Kong, along with rival hubs such as Singapore and Dubai, has rolled out programmes to attract and retain family offices as important holders of capital. A report in late April this year said more than 130 family offices plan to set up or widen operations in Hong Kong, and about three-fifths of these offices are ultimately based in mainland China.

Hong Kong has unveiled a package of measures. For example, in June 2023, Hong Kong's government introduced its “Network of Family Office Service Providers.” The rollout of the network is one of eight initiatives in the government's Policy Statement on Developing Family Office Businesses in Hong Kong.

Singapore's family offices sector has met with a few speed bumps. Tighter checks for new applicants have slowed growth in new FOs in the city-state; another factor is Singapore’s higher property prices.