Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour.
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As the war in Iran shakes Dubai’s safe-haven image, Hong Kong’s growing tax incentives for family offices could prompt wealthy individuals to reconsider their exposure to the Middle East, lawyers and consultants told Inside Wealth.
“We’re seeing a lot more interest in Hong Kong. That interest, particularly in the last couple of weeks, has exploded,” said Gaven Cheong, partner and fund formation lawyer at Charles Russell Speechlys.
Cheong, who is based in Hong Kong, said he has almost daily conversations with families considering setting up family offices in Hong Kong, including those who have already left the region.
In late February, the Hong Kong government proposed several new tax incentives for single-family offices, family investment portfolio vehicles and investment funds. One of the most notable proposals would be to extend tax breaks on gold, cryptocurrencies, private credit and overseas real estate, among other assets. Hong Kong Finance Secretary Paul Chan said the legislation would be submitted by June.
In 2023, Hong Kong introduced tax breaks for family offices in a bid to attract wealthy investors to the region after protests in 2019 caused an exodus of wealth. An estimated 4,200 millionaires left Hong Kong that year alone, according to investment migration consultancy Henley & Partners.
Many mainland Chinese families have chosen to move their businesses from Hong Kong to Singapore because of its political neutrality, favorable tax regime and independent courts, according to Singapore-based lawyer Edmund Leow.
Between 2020 and 2024, the number of family offices in Singapore increased from 400 to more than 2,000, according to the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
“There was a mad rush to set up family offices in Singapore, and Hong Kong realized they had to do something, otherwise a lot of their families would move,” said Leow, a senior partner in Dentons Rodyk’s business law practice group.
Leow said many of Hong Kong’s tax benefits are modeled on those of Singapore. Some of Hong Kong’s recently proposed tax breaks, such as the gold exemption, already exist in Singapore.
Leow said he viewed Hong Kong’s latest proposals as “incremental changes” that would not radically alter the value proposition for setting up a family office there compared to Singapore. Some clients even have family offices in both jurisdictions, he said.
“It depends a lot on the person and what they want. If that person is politically aligned with China, then maybe they might choose Hong Kong for that reason, because Hong Kong is part of China. But on the other hand, if they are looking for a politically neutral country, then they might opt for Singapore,” Leow said.
“If you do business in China, you need to have good relations with the Chinese government. That would be a reason to choose Hong Kong,” he added.
According to a Deloitte study commissioned by the Hong Kong government, Hong Kong had nearly 3,400 single-family offices at the end of 2025, an increase of 681 since the end of 2023.
Cheong said he, however, sees the potential tax break on cryptocurrencies as a significant differentiator between Singapore and Hong Kong’s tax systems. Although Hong Kong’s legislation has not yet been fully revealed, the exemption so far is broader than Singapore’s, he said.
Anthony Lau, head of Deloitte Private in Hong Kong, said the domicile is also advantageous for family offices looking to relocate quickly.
Family offices do not need to apply for an exemption to benefit from tax breaks in Hong Kong, he said.
In Singapore, it takes about three months to get approval for the exemption. Still, it’s an improvement: the process previously took around 12 months before the waiting time was reduced 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 must allocate either SGD10 million (approximately $7.85 million) or 10% of their assets under management (whichever is lower) in designated local investments.
However, it is too early to say whether families will personally leave Dubai for Hong Kong, he said.
“If you want to diversify your risk and want more exposure in Asia, then obviously they want to move some of their investments out of a potential conflict zone,” he said. “But whether the family or family members would actually move to Hong Kong, I think that’s a question mark.”