HONG KONG - The Hong Kong government has tapped property tycoons to help lure more family offices to the financial hub.

The city set up the Hong Kong Academy for Wealth Legacy on Thursday, in a move to regain its global significance in finance. It enlisted help from Mr Adrian Cheng, the billionaire behind New World Development, to be the chairman. Mr Daryl Ng, deputy chairman of developer Sino Land, was appointed a board member.

Financial hubs around the world are stepping up efforts to draw in the super rich. Hong Kong recently introduced a slew of tax and residency incentives to lure more money management firms to the city.

With the academy, “we build the ecosystem of family offices in a more structured way and also to accelerate our path towards strengthening our position as the pre-eminent global family office hub”, said Mr Cheng in a statement, adding that he has seen significant interest from markets including China, the Middle East, South Korea, Japan and France.

Ms Amy Lo, co-head of UBS Group’s wealth management business for Asia-Pacific, will serve as one of the board members.

Singapore poses the biggest competition to Hong Kong with its offering of tax breaks and geopolitical stability. The city-state had about 1,100 family offices at the end of 2022, compared with just 400 in 2020, according to Monetary Authority of Singapore estimates. Hong Kong is targeting at least 200 top-tier offices by 2025.

There were 1,084 billionaires in 2022 in the Asia-Pacific region, with a combined net worth of US$4.2 trillion (S$5.7 trillion), according to the UBS Billionaire Ambitions Report. BLOOMBERG