The jurisdiction has not had a great set of headlines in the past two years but as far as the corporate, fund and wealth services business is concerned, its prospects remain strong, aided by growth in UHNW populations in the region.

ZEDRA, the international corporate, fund and wealth services business, reckons that rising demand for family trusts and family office solutions will last for some time. It is upbeat about prospects for Hong Kong, a jurisdiction whose image has been hit by political changes over recent years.

Hong Kong continues to thrive and business among Chinese high net worth and ultra-HNW families is booming, ZEDRA said in a commentary yesterday.

Within the last two months, Hong Kong has once again regained its position ahead of Singapore to rank fifth among 111 global financial centres, ZEDRA said, citing a survey published by Z/Yen Partners, a London-based think tank, and the China Development Institute.

“In many ways, global and local political instabilities, as well as the pandemic, have acted as something of a supercharger for us, catapulting business enquiries around areas such as pre-immigration planning, succession planning, trusts and other asset protection structures to manage wealth for future generations,” Jacqueline Shek, executive director, trust services, said. 

The timing of the comments is striking considering that for much of the past two years, Hong Kong has been roiled by domestic political troubles. These culminated in mainland China’s enforcement of a new national security law, prompting international worries that Hong Kong’s distinct legal autonomy had ended. This publication has been told by lawyers and other wealth industry players that some Hong Kong-based families have discussed relocating their assets elsewhere. However, the continued growth of the mainland China economy – contrasting in many ways with the rest of the world during the coronavirus pandemic – is helpful for Hong Kong. 

“Ironically, it is when people feel threatened that they are more likely to look to establish or review their existing succession plans,” ZEDRA’s Shek said in a note.

“Asian markets offer enormous prospects for growth for ZEDRA,” she continued. 

“Asian businessmen and businesswomen have very specific needs and increasingly prefer a global wealth management solution. Our typical clients are likely to be multi-banked and seek an open architecture platform, which will enable them to select specific expert advisors, according to their exact requirements,” she said. “A new generation of confident, successful Chinese, Hong Kong and South East Asian entrepreneurs are setting the bar ever higher.”

The Hurun China Rich List recorded more wealth created in 2020 than the previous five years combined, ZEDRA said, citing the annual report on trends in China. The firm also pointed to the UBS/PricewaterhouseCoopers 2020 Billionaire Insights Report study showing that the number of Chinese billionaires increased to a record of 415 with a total wealth of $1.681 trillion by the end of July 2020.

This news service has contacted the firm for some specific financial data on its Hong Kong-based business and may update in due course.

ZEDRA employs 585 industry experts across 15 countries spanning Asia, Oceania, the Americas and Europe. It has also opened offices in Romania and San Francisco.

Late in November ZEDRA announced that it had launched a “global expansion service” for businesses wanting to develop abroad. The move came after ZEDRA acquired Fitzgerald & Law in September. The firm has made a number of business acquisitions in Asia and Europe. It bought the corporate trust services provider Interben in Guernsey, acquired BNP Trust in Singapore and snapped up accounting. and outsourced services specialist Awans in Poland in order to enter the Central European market.