The competition for family offices

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Family offices have become the most hotly contested prize among financial centres. Singapore and Dubai have created tax and regulatory incentive regimes to attract the management structures of large family fortunes, with requirements for local employment and investment. Hong Kong has followed, while Luxembourg and London offer their own advantages.¹ Geneva, where family offices grew out of the private banking tradition as Part E described, offers no special regime: the single family office is exempt from the Financial Institutions Act. Ordinary taxation applies, with lump-sum taxation based on expenditure for those family members who are eligible for it.²

Geneva’s advantage lies in its ecosystem: custodian banks, lawyers, fiduciaries, tax advisers and specialised managers, in a city where the family can also live, educate its children and meet its peers. The competing centres build this ecosystem with subsidies, whereas Geneva has it by inheritance. The threat lies in the taxation of individuals and in housing, examined above, and in the attraction of the Asian and Gulf centres for families whose businesses are located there. A cantonal policy attentive to family offices, without subsidies but with a predictable tax administration and an organised welcome, would preserve a segment in which Geneva remains one of the leading centres in the world.

Notes

Singapore: criteria updated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore on 5 July 2023 for the Section 13O and 13U schemes (Duane Morris & Selvam, 12 July 2023): minimum assets under management of SGD 20 million (13O) or SGD 50 million (13U), at least one investment professional from outside the family, minimum local spending of SGD 200,000 per year, obligation to invest 10% of assets or SGD 10 million in designated investments, private banking account with an institution licensed by the MAS. Hong Kong: family-owned investment holding vehicle regime (Aerapass): zero rate on qualifying transactions, minimum assets of HKD 240 million, at least two full-time employees and HKD 2 million in annual expenditure, 95% of the capital held by the family. ↩
Exemption of single family offices based on the family ties exception (Art. 2 para. 2 let. a Financial Institutions Act (FinIA; SR 954.1)), multi-family offices being subject to authorisation as asset managers; Schellenberg Wittmer, “Nouvelles règles pour trustees et family offices” (New rules for trustees and family offices), newsletter of January 2020, swlegal.com. ↩

For general information only. This article does not constitute legal or tax advice, does not replace advice on an individual case and creates no lawyer-client relationship. It reflects the legal position as of September 2025.

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Dr Alexander Ressos, TEP

Rechtsanwalt/Attorney-at-Law

I am a Swiss attorney-at-law and also admitted as a solicitor in Hong Kong and in England & Wales, with almost 25 years of experience.

Together with my multilingual team, including Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Ukrainian and French native speakers, I advise companies and their owners from around the world on the full range of banking, corporate, commercial and tax law matters in Switzerland, including international tax planning, fiduciary services, and legal family office services including immigration & relocation or real estate investments. My practice has a particular focus on clients from growth and frontier markets in Greater China, Central Asia and the Caucasus, the rest of Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America, and I equally advise clients from Europe and North America. Through an affiliated Swiss trust company, we also take care of the incorporation and ongoing administration of their companies and other structures, including accounting, tax returns and corporate secretarial services, and I serve as a professional director where required. With the support of a network of first-class cooperation partners, I also implement solutions worldwide.

My approach is to act as a trusted advisor who works directly with decision-makers, on an equal footing: I start from what you want to achieve and shape every structure, contract and tax decision around your commercial goals and how it improves your after-tax return. As “lawyers who make it happen”, my team and I stay involved until your company is set up, your structure is in place and your transaction has closed, and we remain available for any follow-on work that may be required. You benefit from bespoke solutions and personal attention, and sound, friendly and practical advice. We are not the lowest-cost provider in the market, nor do we intend to be; our aim is to deliver well-founded, proper solutions and excellent value for money.

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The competition for family offices

Notes

Setting up or expanding in Switzerland?