Nikkei Asia reports that Singapore is losing some of its appeal to wealthy Chinese families setting up family offices, with Hong Kong gaining ground. According to the report, as summarised by the Seoul Economic Daily, Beijing's moves this year to curb trading through offshore brokerage platforms and to tighten the tax treatment of offshore trusts have raised questions for families using Singapore structures. Singapore, for its part, has toughened source-of-funds checks since a large money-laundering case in 2023, and approvals for family office incentives can now take more than a year. Singapore says it has more than 2,000 single family offices, while a Deloitte study cited in the coverage counted 3,384 in Hong Kong at the end of 2025, although the two places define them differently.

Both cities are responding. Singapore has pledged to speed up bank account opening, and Hong Kong has proposed wider tax concessions covering assets such as private credit and digital assets. Hong Kong aims to attract at least 220 more family offices by 2028.

Why it matters: The location of a family office affects tax, regulation, banking access and the ease of hiring staff. For Chinese families, mainland policy now weighs as heavily as the incentives offered by either hub. Competition between Singapore and Hong Kong is likely to produce further changes to rules and incentives, and families with structures in both places will want to keep their arrangements under review.

Source: Nikkei Asia, October 7, 2026. Wealth Office summarises reporting by other publications and links to the original.