Family-driven future

What this entails is the acknowledgement that the shared values of a family will be the main driver for their vision of the enterprise in the future, what they want to achieve as a family, what their identity is and how they will use and deploy the created wealth over generations.

These families, when planning for the future, go beyond the mere transfer of assets. These plans could involve developing a family strategy and governance and decision-making framework, ownership principles, business engagement rules, and designing impactful philanthropic arrangements. Hence, wealth managers serving these clients need to shift from a pure asset succession planning to legacy planning. They need to be able to understand these families, their businesses, what drives them and work closely together with them to create unique and bespoke legacy solutions.

In conclusion, while the concept of wealth management in China is still at a relatively early stage of development, the potential is tremendous given the massive wealth that is being created in that market.

The author is chief executive officer of UBS Wealth Management South East Asia and APAC hub.

(China Daily USA 07/31/2013 page15)