Family Office
Singapore-Based Family Office Network Launches

Family offices are growing in Singapore, and the jurisdiction is promoting the sector on a number of fronts. As if to underline the point, the Oppenheimer dynasty associated with the mining giant Anglo American and De Beers has set up family office operations in the city state.
The Wealth
Management Institute has launched the Global-Asia Family
Office Circle (“GFO Circle”), designed to support growth of this
sector in Singapore.
The GFO Circle is
supported by the Singapore Economic Development Board and the
Monetary
Authority of Singapore. The network said it will “be a
platform for industry players to collaborate, share best
practices and build new capabilities”.
The launch happens at a time when family offices in Asia – a
region dominated by family-owned firms – are growing, catching up
with Europe and North America, home to the most mature markets
for these entities. (According to a recent book on the family
offices sector,
reviewed here, there are 4,250 ultra-high net worth families
with wealth of $250 million or more in Asia.) The GFO Circle
cited figures showing that from 2019, the number of family
offices in Singapore has doubled to about 400 as at end-2020. In
Singapore, regulators are looking at adjusting the jurisdiction’s
Variable
Capital Company regime to attract single-family offices.
(VCCs have been in place since January 2020.)
“The GFO Circle aims to build on this momentum to strengthen
links across the different players in the family office
community. These include family office principals, professionals
and advisors. This will also galvanise the community towards
meaningful causes such as philanthropy, sustainable finance and
supporting Singaporean and regional entrepreneurship,” the
organisation said in a statement.
Beyond community building, the GFO Circle will stress capability
development to support a stronger industry talent pipeline with
deeper levels of expertise. WMI will provide education
programmes, research and thought leadership forums, it
said.
As if to coincide with the initiative, the family office for
Nicky Oppenheimer and his son Jonathan, part of the diamond
producer dynasty, has set up an outpost in Singapore. Edoardo
Collevecchio, the former chief of staff for Oppenheimer
Generations, is moving from London to build and lead its team in
Singapore, while Yi Ling Ong joins from Temasek as head of
investment for the Asia unit, the company said in a statement.
The investment firm, which represents a branch of the family that
founded mining giant Anglo American and turned De Beers into the
world’s largest diamond producer, said it hopes a presence in the
city-state will help drive investments between Asia and its home
market of Africa.
New programmes
In the GFO Circle announcement, it said the Wealth Management
Institute will launch new programmes on global investment
strategies and market principles, in partnership with Dalio
Philanthropies and with contributions from global investors
including GIC and Temasek. WMI will also collaborate with the
Gates Foundation on a new Philanthropy Masterclass, and with
Adjunct Professor Bill Burnett from the Stanford Design Programme
on a programme on Purposeful Wealth Design. The GFO Circle will
also offer programmes on sustainable investing and impact
investing. An indicative list of programmes is at Annex, it
said.
"The ultimate goal of the GFO Circle is to be a trusted
environment for the family office community to come together,
share knowledge and gain access to domain leaders, change-makers,
experts and distinguished global thought leaders,” Foo Mee Har,
CEO of WMI, said. “The rapidly growing family office segment is
creating excellent jobs and new career pathways for Singaporeans
in new family office set-ups as well as in sectors such as wealth
management, asset management, tax, accountancy, legal and trust
services.”
“We saw strong demand for training from the finance and
professional services sectors. In the last 12 months, there were
over 500 enrolments in WMI's family office and trusts
certification programmes. We are gearing up to double our scale
to reach 3,000 enrolments over the next three years across
Masterclasses, certification programmes and overseas learning
journeys," Foo Mee Har said.
WMI is appointed as Singapore's Lead Training Provider for
Private Banking by the Institute of Banking and Finance Singapore
and supported by MAS.