Jersey Finance survey shows Asian investors want tax transparency

Wednesday 04 July 2018

A new survey launched by Jersey Finance in Hong Kong has found that tax transparency and regulatory compliance - instead of secrecy - are the top priorities for for Asian High Net Worth Individuals (HNWI) using International Finance Centres.

Entitled “The future for International Financial Centres – Views from Asia’s Wealth Management Market”, the report found that this is driven by a number of recent global and local regulations relating to disclosure and cross-border exchange of data.

Conducted by Jersey Finance and Asian-focused financial publisher Hubbis, the research also showed that most wealth managers believe their clients in Asia are looking for better structures to adapt to the new global regulatory rules and compliance conventions, such as the Common Reporting Standard and FATCA.

Other key findings included:

• More than 46% of respondents believe succession planning is the key motivator for selecting an IFC for Asia’s HNWI and Ultra-HNWI, with jurisdictional and asset diversification the second biggest driver (22%)

• Only 4% believe their clients are searching for privacy and confidentiality

• 89% of respondents said their Asian clients are fully aware that they need to address issues relating to transparency, tax and existing structures.

• However, 80% of respondents think Asian clients are not well prepared for wealth transition from one generation to another.

Despite this, the findings also show that younger generations - those in their 20s to early 40s - are far more globalised and increasingly appreciate the importance of transparent wealth preservation and planning.

Pictured: The survey focuses on Asia’s wealth management community’s view on the future for offshore structures.

Additionally, half of those surveyed indicated that Chinese HNWI families will adapt “slowly and painfully”, largely because many are only recently mobilising their wealth and families into a more globalised context.

Geoff Cook, CEO of Jersey Finance said: “Chinese HNWI and ultra-HNWI clients have been looking for new wealth management options, especially cross-border solutions, to diversify, protect and grow their wealth for some years.

“In the face of a more sophisticated Asian market, practitioners and IFCs need to clearly show their quality of service, depth of expertise and consistency of advice to match the dynamic client needs. In particular, there is a clear opportunity for Jersey to provide some vital leadership with its forward- thinking approach to compliance with international regulations, which sets it apart from the competition.”