Victoria Harbor in Hong Kong.
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As the Iran war challenges Dubai’s safe-haven image, expanding tax breaks for Hong Kong family offices could attract high-net-worth individuals reconsidering their exposure to the Middle East, lawyers and consultants told Inside Wealth.
“There is a growing interest in Hong Kong. This interest has exploded, particularly in the last two weeks,” said Gaven Chong, partner and fund formation lawyer at Charles Russell Speechlies.
Chong, who is based in Hong Kong, said he speaks almost every day with families considering setting up family offices in Hong Kong, including those who have previously left Hong Kong.
In late February, the Hong Kong government proposed several new tax incentives for detached offices, family-owned investment vehicles, and investment funds. One of the most notable proposals would extend tax breaks on assets such as gold, cryptocurrencies, private credit, and overseas real estate. Hong Kong’s Finance Secretary Paul Chan said the bill would be submitted by June.
Hong Kong introduced tax breaks for family offices in 2023 in a bid to lure wealthy investors back to the city after 2019 protests sparked an exodus of wealth. An estimated 4,200 billionaires left Hong Kong that year alone, according to investment migration consultancy Henley & Partners.
Singapore-based lawyer Edmund Leow said many mainland Chinese families chose to move their companies from Hong Kong to Singapore because of its political neutrality, tax-friendly system and independent courts.
According to the Monetary Authority of Singapore, from 2020 to 2024, the population of family offices in Singapore surged from 400 to more than 2,000.
“Singapore has seen a rush to set up family offices, and Hong Kong has realized that if it doesn’t do something, a lot of families will move out,” said Mr Leow, a senior partner in Dentons Roddick’s corporate practice group.
Mr Leow said many of Hong Kong’s tax incentives were modeled after Singapore’s. Some of Hong Kong’s new tax relief measures, such as a tax exemption on gold, already exist in Singapore.
Leow said he believes the latest proposals in Hong Kong are “incremental changes” and do not significantly change the value proposition of setting up a family office in Hong Kong compared to Singapore. Some clients have family offices in both jurisdictions, he said.
“It really depends on the person and what they want. If they are politically aligned with China, they might choose Hong Kong for that reason, since Hong Kong is part of China. But on the other hand, if they are looking for a politically neutral country, they might choose Singapore,” Leow said.
“If you want to do business in China, you need to have a good relationship with the Chinese government. That’s probably why you choose Hong Kong,” he added.
According to a Deloitte study commissioned by the Hong Kong government, there were nearly 3,400 detached offices in Hong Kong at the end of 2025, an increase of 681 from the end of 2023.
However, Chong said he believes the potential for tax breaks on cryptocurrencies is a meaningful differentiator between Singapore and Hong Kong’s tax systems. He said the full scope of Hong Kong’s law is not yet clear, but so far the scope of exemptions is broader than in Singapore.
Anthony Lau, Hong Kong leader at Deloitte Private, said the address is also advantageous for family offices looking to relocate quickly.
He said family offices do not need to apply for exemption to receive tax relief in Hong Kong.
In Singapore, it takes approximately three months to get an exemption approved. Still, this is an improvement. The process used to take around 12 months until the wait time was cut by Singapore’s financial regulator last year.
Lau added that Hong Kong’s tax system also does not require family offices to invest locally. In Singapore, family offices are required to allocate S$10 million (approximately $7.85 million) or 10% of assets under management (whichever is lower) to designated local investments.
However, he said it was too early to tell whether the family would personally move from Dubai to Hong Kong.
“If you want to diversify your risk and increase your exposure in Asia, you obviously want to move some of your investments outside of potential conflict zones,” he said. “But I think it’s a question mark whether families and families will really move to Hong Kong.”
