Withers, the international law firm, is finalizing plans for a new office in Singapore to offer tax and trust law to high net worth individuals in South East Asia.

A formal announcement is not expected for several weeks, but at this stage the global lawyer is considering partnering with a local firm to take office space, said a source close to the firm.

Withers has had an outpost in Hong Kong for three years and last year entered a consultancy agreement with BeA-asia, a Shanghai-based financial services advisory firm, as the first step towards launching it own office in China's second city.

At the time of the tie-up last September, Withers said the rapid growth of wealth in the region and the development in financial infrastructure makes Asia central to its growth strategy.

“China is currently the world’s fourth largest high net worth base, with 477,000 high net worth individuals, and this number is expected to continue to increase over the coming years,” said Margaret Robertson, Withers’ global managing director at the time of the announcement.

“Such high-speed wealth creation will undoubtedly lead to complex wealth planning needs for entrepreneurs, their families and their businesses, so this is obviously a market Withers is very interested in… Long term, we plan to open an office in Shanghai, subject to receiving the necessary approvals from the regulators in China," she added.