BNP Paribas Sees European Clients Building Hong Kong-Based Family Offices – Report

Editorial Staff

21 July 2026

says that an increasing number of European clients want to set up family offices in Hong Kong and exploit the region’s opportunities.

A growing number of wealthy mainland clients were also considering investing in Europe, Lemuel Lee, head of wealth management for BNP Paribas in Hong Kong, told the South China Morning Post.

“The two-way capital flow between Europe and mainland China is expected to continue in the coming years, while Hong Kong is playing an important role as a connector in the process,” Lee was quoted as saying by the news organisation. “For these European investors who want to invest in technology startups or other businesses in Asia and mainland China, Hong Kong is the best location for them to set up family offices to do due diligence or negotiate deals,” Lee added.

Hong Kong – now ranked by Boston Consulting Group as being the world’s largest cross-border financial hub, edging ahead of Switzerland – has developed tax and other incentives to encourage family offices, competing with rival centres such as Singapore. (See a related article here.)

Lee talked to WealthBriefingAsia last autumn about how BNP Paribas addresses the global linkages for its HNW and UHNW clients, using the term "corridor" to describe what is happening.

As the report noted, in June, Jason Fong, the global head of family office at InvestHK – the government body responsible for foreign investment promotion – said the agency was assisting 30 European family offices planning to set up or invest in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong's tax concession regime for family offices, which came into operation on 19 May 2023, is one of the policy measures which provides tax incentives intended to attract high net worth private families to set up family offices in Hong Kong and operate family-owned investment holding vehicles from Hong Kong.

The Capital Investment Entrant Scheme (CIES), which was reintroduced in 2024, requires a minimum investment of $5 million to qualify for residency. Another scheme is the Quality Migrant Admission Scheme (QMAS). This requires a tax receipt of $320,000 from China for residency eligibility.