The Government is committed to attracting the world's wealthy to set up family offices in Hong Kong, with the goal of having at least 200 of the world's top family offices set up in Hong Kong by 2025. Although the government has conducted roadshows around the world and provided tax incentives, the Nikkei reported that family office consultants still have a lukewarm response.

The report quoted a person in charge of a wealth management company as saying that foreigners and mainlanders have little intention to come to Hong Kong. Previously, the government passed the Family Office Tax Concessions Ordinance and provided $100 million to investment promotion in the next three years to attract more family offices to set up offices in Hong Kong. However, industry insiders pointed out that the relevant measures are not innovative and do not bring new incentives to investors. On the other hand, Singapore has started to attract the super-rich three years ago. By the end of last year, 1,100 family offices had established offices in the region.

The report quoted the Family Office HK team of InvestHK as saying that there are no statistics on the number of family offices available, but there has been a significant increase in interest in family offices setting up offices in Hong Kong, and has received enquiries from different regions, including the Mainland, the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. However, it did not disclose how many enquiries had been implemented.

The report also quoted Hong Kong's international banks as saying that they found an increase in inquiries about family office schemes, but refused to disclose the actual figures.

InvestHK said it had received many enquiries

According to a survey, tensions between China and the United States are also a cause for concern for wealth managers and family offices. A person in charge of a wealth management company said that he had met with multiple clients under the same family office, and most of them asked to move funds out of China.

Kia Meng Loh, a senior partner at Dentons Rodyk & Davidson, one of Singapore's largest law firms, also pointed out that for clients who have not yet set up a family office outside the mainland, Singapore is better than Hong Kong for the safety of their funds.