Published Fri, Mar 27, 2026 \u00b7 07:27 PM<\/p>\n
[HONG KONG] Anmol Goel, the head of a London-based family office, said his firm was planning to open an outlet in the United Arab Emirates this year to join money managers that have flocked to the Gulf. Then the war began.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were setting up a new holding company, acquiring banking assets, and purchasing properties. Everything was finalised,\u201d said Goel, the chief executive officer of GACS, who attended a wealth forum in Hong Kong this week. \u201cIt\u2019s still too early to jump to conclusions, but this is what brought me to Hong Kong.\u201d<\/p>\n
War in the Middle East is giving the super rich one more reason to reconsider Hong Kong, where authorities are trying to reclaim the allure that was lost in recent years amid protests, political controls and pandemic restrictions. They have been pitching the financial hub\u2019s low taxes, wide talent pool and a booming equities capital market to bring the wealthy back.<\/p>\n
A slew of events in Hong Kong this week show the Asian financial hub is regaining traction, especially as investors look for alternatives to Dubai and Abu Dhabi amid a war that\u2019s showing few signs of easing. Singapore is also set to benefit if more money flees the Middle East. Still, many families are taking a wait and see approach to their portfolios. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe are evaluating Zurich, Singapore, and Mumbai as backup entities,\u201d Goel said after attending the Wealth for Good summit. \u201cPeople say these places are boring, but boring is the new sexy.\u201d<\/p>\n
XinXi Asset Management, a newly established firm focusing on family offices, is helping at least seven clients move more than US$100 million in combined assets from Dubai to Hong Kong, according to chief executive officer Joel Tan. Tan also received six inquiries from Chinese clients seeking to sell their Middle Eastern properties this week alone. Meanwhile, the firm has scrapped its plans to open a Dubai branch despite having started the licensing paperwork due to the war. <\/p>\n
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Hong Kong\u2019s rebound is reflected in the wave of new family offices, which rose 25 per cent to 3,384 at the end of last year from 2023. Each of them manage at least US$10 million, according to a Deloitte survey commissioned by the local government. <\/p>\n
Authorities plan to extend tax concessions for family offices and funds to more asset classes, Christopher Hui, secretary for financial services and the treasury said in a Bloomberg TV interview on Tuesday. The government has seen an increased number of guests from the Middle East for the annual wealth summit, Hui said. <\/p>\n
A boom in initial public offerings that made the city the busiest venue for listings in the world last year is also bringing in bumper revenue for investment banks. Proceeds raised locally hit a four-year high in 2025, and have started this year with a bang.<\/p>\n
Wall Street firms and regional counterparts such as UBS Group, Citigroup, DBS Group Holdings and China Construction Bank Corp. are all adding headcount in Hong Kong this year, as they compete for the city\u2019s US$1 trillion private wealth market. <\/p>\n
\u201cReputation, trust, and confidence of the market is central to everything,\u201d Hong Kong Financial Secretary Paul Chan said at the Bloomberg Family Office Summit on Wednesday. <\/p>\n
A billionaire who visited the city for the government summit said Hong Kong has been able to regain some trust that was lost during Covid years, when China\u2019s strong influence was seen as hurting the financial industry. <\/p>\n
The attacks on Dubai will likely benefit Hong Kong and Singapore, though it\u2019s harder for either to attract European ultra-high-net worth individuals given the long distance, the person said, asking not to be named due to sensitivity of speaking about politics.<\/p>\n
Renewed energy<\/p>\n
Gildo Zegna, the billionaire executive chairman of Italian fashion house Ermenegildo Zegna, arrived in Hong Kong this week with a long to-do list: dining with clients, meeting investors, visiting shops and attending Art Basel \u2013 all within three days. <\/p>\n
The first thing he noticed was the traffic, followed by renewed energy inside his store and a line-up at a nearby luxury outlet.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hadn\u2019t seen these things in Hong Kong for a while,\u201d Zegna, who has a stake with family members in the fashion firm worth about US$1.6 billion, said in an interview at his shop in Tsim Sha Tsui. <\/p>\n
Other money managers for the rich in Hong Kong said their clients are watchful, but steering clear of big asset moves so far.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe haven\u2019t seen actual shifts in the families that we work with in terms of their appetite or the risk tolerances,\u201d said Elton Cheung, the managing partner at VMS Group. <\/p>\n
Singapore could also see more inflows of money from the Middle East, though some of the super rich are reluctant to move there because it\u2019s too restrictive, according to a wealth executive for a regional bank.<\/p>\n
A ban on hookahs and vape, as well as strict enforcements against speeding constitute a major deterrence, especially for the uber-rich with fancy sports cars, said the person. Malaysia has become more attractive for many families for cultural reasons and religious closeness. Some are choosing to have assets booked in Singapore but live across the causeway in Johor, or bustling Kuala Lumpur.<\/p>\n
The extension of the conflict could lead to investors seeking more liquid options, making hedge funds \u201ca good space\u201d for them to look at, VMS\u2019s Cheung said during a panel at the Bloomberg event on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom my own experience, I\u2019ve had more conversations with clients about whether we should invest in China or should we come visit China, arranging trips to get on the ground,\u201d said Aaron Costello, the Singapore-based head of Asia at Cambridge Associates who is responsible for the firm\u2019s investment and research in the region, during a symposium hosted by the Milken Institute in Hong Kong on Monday. \u201cThere\u2019s been a thaw, particularly from Europeans, and the Americans are slowly warming up.\u201d BLOOMBERG<\/p>\n
Decoding Asia newsletter: your guide to navigating Asia in a new global order. Sign up here to get Decoding Asia newsletter. Delivered to your inbox. Free.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Published Fri, Mar 27, 2026 \u00b7 07:27 PM [HONG KONG] Anmol Goel, the head of a London-based family…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":548532,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[28,101],"class_list":["post-548531","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-economy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548531","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=548531"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548531\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/548532"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=548531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=548531"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=548531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}