Hong Kong's forward-looking policies, stability and backing from national authorities are transforming the city into a premier global hub for family offices amid rising geopolitical risks, Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Christopher Hui said on Thursday.

Writing on his official blog, Hui also announced the fourth annual edition of the Wealth for Good in Hong Kong Summit would be held on March 23 and 24 and that the theme would be "Building Lasting Legacies".

The event is a flagship wealth summit in the city that brings together the global heads of ultra-rich family offices and their advisers.

There has been a massive wave of wealth transition across generations just as the scale of family offices has grown in the SAR, Hui noted.

The city is becoming more appealing as a safe harbour for family offices and investors, who are re-evaluating their portfolios amid the intensifying geopolitical uncertainties, with a shift of their assets to the SAR becoming a rising trend, he added.

"Amid the major transformation, the policy foresight and institutional stability of Hong Kong are becoming more precious – no risk of war, free flow of funds, a deep and stable capital market, as well as a well-established regulatory framework, coupled with long-term planning that is closely integrated with national development," Hui said.

"All these are making Hong Kong the preferred option for global high-net-worth individuals and family offices to reallocate their assets."

The upcoming summit, he said, will focus on three areas: wealth management, cultural values as well as intelligent technological innovation.

Several top private wealth management decision-makers as well as family heirs will also delve into such topics as impact investing, family governance and philanthropy.

A group of humanoid robots would kick off the summit with a performance, showcasing the rapid development of domestic technology, Hui said.

His remarks came as the number of single-family offices in the SAR rose 25 percent over two years to 3,384 by the end of last year, with half of them having assets worth over US$51 million.

Artificial intelligence, embodied intelligence, as well as biological research are leading a new round of technological revolution, opening up new investment opportunities for global family capital, Hui said, adding that the city is striving to becoming a global hub for AI technology with the launch of its "AI Plus" initiatives.



Edited by Thomas McAlinden