Family Offices in Singapore – setting them up and operating them successfully

Woon Shiu has over 20 years of expertise in marketing, client development and professional training in family office structuring, trusts, high-net-worth life insurance and estate planning in Asia Pacific (especially China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia). Over the years, Woon Shiu has handled multiple landmark transactions, advising ultra-high net-worth individuals and founding members of banking conglomerates on matters relating to taxes, multi-generational endowment funds, planning of global assets, and much more. Woon Shiu is also an adjunct professor at the Wealth Management Institute (in Nanyang Technological University) and regularly lectures private bankers, lawyers and trust practitioners on wealth structuring and estate succession. He has also spoken as a guest lecturer at universities in China, and his views on family businesses are regularly featured in the Financial Times, Barron’s Asia, Singapore Business Times, China Daily and other renowned publications. Woon Shiu has advised numerous ultra-high net-worth families across Asia Pacific in the areas of strategic structuring of their estate and succession planning. He commonly engages multi-generation families, giving them advice on successfully establishing and implementing their desired family governance and philanthropic strategies. He holds a STEP certification and is a Solicitor in England and Wales, as well as an Advocate and Solicitor in Singapore. Woon Shiu is fluent in English and Mandarin – often lecturing in both languages – and is also conversant in Cantonese, Hokkien and Hainanese.

Ee Lin is an award-winning internationally recognised trust & wealth planner and family business governance advisor to high net worth families and family offices in Asia Pacific & Middle East. A fully qualified advocate and solicitor, she has held C-suite and regional roles in major international banks for almost 3 decades. Besides her expertise in trust structuring and family business succession planning, she is also well versed in strategic philanthropy, insurance solutions, business development, business management, restructuring, audit, corporate governance, regulatory compliance, anti-money laundering and risk management. Currently Director at Deloitte Private Tax and Legal, heading up Family Enterprise Consulting, she helps business owning families create family constitutions, and advises on family governance, trust & succession planning and family office structuring. A trained mediator, she is also adjunct professor at Singapore Management University and Nanyang Technological University where she lectures at executive education and Masters programs and also at the Business Families Institute. She is a frequent speaker at industry events in the region. Prior to joining Deloitte, Ee Lin’s career has included roles such as Co-Founder of RHT Family Office, Regional Head of Wealth Planning at Coutts private bank, CEO and Resident Manager of Clariden Trust Company (Singapore), and Chief of Staff and Asia Pacific Head of International Estate Planning at ABN AMRO Private Banking, and bank regulator at the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Ee Lin’s commercial board experience has included board director roles at RHT Family Office, PPLI Asia (a boutique insurance broker) and Clariden Trust Company. She has continually served on non-profit boards over the past 27 years. Currently, she serves on the Resource Panel for the Singapore Government Parliamentary Committee for Finance and Trade (since 2009) and on the boards of the SMU Shirin Fozdar Program and the Society of Trust & Estate Practitioners, the international professional association for trust & estate planners. She previously served on the board of the World Wide Fund for Nature, where she was Chair of the Remuneration Committee and Nominations Committee, as President of the Financial Women’s Association, and served on the boards of BoardAgender (an initiative of the Singapore Council of Women’s Organisations) and the Stanford Alumni Association. Ee Lin holds three degrees at Magna Cum Laude level: BA in Economics from Stanford University, MBA in International Wealth Management from Carnegie Mellon University, Tepper School of Business, and a Doctor in Jurisprudence from SMU. Admitted to the Singapore Bar, she is ranked in the CityWealth Leaders’ List 2019 and Citywealth International Financial Centre PowerWomen Top 200 global list annually since 2014. Married with one son, Ee Lin has lived and worked in Hong Kong, Geneva, Jersey, Luxembourg, Malaysia and Singapore.

Edmund is a senior partner heading up the firm’s Tax practice with three decades of experience in advising multinational organisations on cross-border tax planning, transfer pricing and tax disputes. He also advises on international trade issues such as customs, WTO and free-trade agreements. Edmund also leads the firm’s Trust, Estates and Wealth Preservation practice and advises high net worth individuals, private banks and trust companies in personal tax, as well as in trust and estate planning matters. Edmund was invited by the government to serve as a Judicial Commissioner at the Supreme Court and served from 2013 to 2016. On stepping down, he was appointed Senior Counsel in 2017, making him the first and only Tax and Trust lawyer to be given this accolade nationwide. Prior to his appointment to the Singapore judiciary in 2013, Edmund was named a Tier 1 lawyer by The Legal 500 Asia Pacific for Tax in 2012. His views on tax and wealth management were widely sought and publicised in the media, such as Bloomberg, BBC, Channel NewsAsia, Reuters, The Financial Times and The Straits Times. He was also a founding partner of a Singapore law firm that was associated with an international law firm, where he headed up the Tax and Wealth Management practices in Singapore. Edmund is a former President and an honorary member of the Singapore Trustees Association (STA).

Rolf Haudenschild is heading Ingenia Consultants Pte. Ltd., a leading compliance and internal audit provider to external asset managers, fund management companies and fintech companies in Singapore. He regularly works with financial institutions for their licensing with the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), produces compliance frameworks, manages compliance workflows for multiple financial institutions and advises on regulatory questions. Before establishing a compliance consultancy, Rolf worked with FINMA, the Swiss financial services regulator, and in legal and compliance at international and regional private banks. Rolf is a qualified attorney-at-law and holds an MLaw from the University of Berne, Switzerland, as well as an LLM in International Financial Law from King’s College London, United Kingdom. He is regularly speaking on compliance in conferences and conducting courses for industry associations and tertiary institutions.

Damian Hitchen, Chief Executive Officer, Swissquote Pte Ltd Damian joined in January 2014 to drive Swissquote’s expansion strategy from being Switzerland’s largest online banking and trading platform into the Middle East & Asia region. During 2014-2019 inclusive he built a successful B2c-B2b office from the DIFC, Dubai with a major focus on the development and upgrade of the Bank existing institutional platform services. In July 2019, he relocated from Dubai to head up Swissquote’s new office in Singapore, which will act as the regional booking centre for its business development in the Asia-Pacific region, with a focus on professional, industry and institutional clients such as external asset-managers, insurance firms, securities brokerages, family offices and local - regional Banks/Private Banks. Prior to joining Swissquote, Damian worked in a number of senior roles for HSBC in the Middle East region, and as an Executive r Director for Falcon Private Bank, the Abu Dhabi owned Swiss Private Bank.

Edmund is a senior partner heading up the firm’s Tax practice with three decades of experience in advising multinational organisations on cross-border tax planning, transfer pricing and tax disputes. He also advises on international trade issues such as customs, WTO and free-trade agreements. Edmund also leads the firm’s Trust, Estates and Wealth Preservation practice and advises high net worth individuals, private banks and trust companies in personal tax, as well as in trust and estate planning matters. Edmund was invited by the government to serve as a Judicial Commissioner at the Supreme Court and served from 2013 to 2016. On stepping down, he was appointed Senior Counsel in 2017, making him the first and only Tax and Trust lawyer to be given this accolade nationwide. Prior to his appointment to the Singapore judiciary in 2013, Edmund was named a Tier 1 lawyer by The Legal 500 Asia Pacific for Tax in 2012. His views on tax and wealth management were widely sought and publicised in the media, such as Bloomberg, BBC, Channel NewsAsia, Reuters, The Financial Times and The Straits Times. He was also a founding partner of a Singapore law firm that was associated with an international law firm, where he headed up the Tax and Wealth Management practices in Singapore. Edmund is a former President and an honorary member of the Singapore Trustees Association (STA).

Woon Shiu has over 20 years of expertise in marketing, client development and professional training in family office structuring, trusts, high-net-worth life insurance and estate planning in Asia Pacific (especially China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia). Over the years, Woon Shiu has handled multiple landmark transactions, advising ultra-high net-worth individuals and founding members of banking conglomerates on matters relating to taxes, multi-generational endowment funds, planning of global assets, and much more. Woon Shiu is also an adjunct professor at the Wealth Management Institute (in Nanyang Technological University) and regularly lectures private bankers, lawyers and trust practitioners on wealth structuring and estate succession. He has also spoken as a guest lecturer at universities in China, and his views on family businesses are regularly featured in the Financial Times, Barron’s Asia, Singapore Business Times, China Daily and other renowned publications. Woon Shiu has advised numerous ultra-high net-worth families across Asia Pacific in the areas of strategic structuring of their estate and succession planning. He commonly engages multi-generation families, giving them advice on successfully establishing and implementing their desired family governance and philanthropic strategies. He holds a STEP certification and is a Solicitor in England and Wales, as well as an Advocate and Solicitor in Singapore. Woon Shiu is fluent in English and Mandarin – often lecturing in both languages – and is also conversant in Cantonese, Hokkien and Hainanese.

Rolf Haudenschild is heading Ingenia Consultants Pte. Ltd., a leading compliance and internal audit provider to external asset managers, fund management companies and fintech companies in Singapore. He regularly works with financial institutions for their licensing with the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), produces compliance frameworks, manages compliance workflows for multiple financial institutions and advises on regulatory questions. Before establishing a compliance consultancy, Rolf worked with FINMA, the Swiss financial services regulator, and in legal and compliance at international and regional private banks. Rolf is a qualified attorney-at-law and holds an MLaw from the University of Berne, Switzerland, as well as an LLM in International Financial Law from King’s College London, United Kingdom. He is regularly speaking on compliance in conferences and conducting courses for industry associations and tertiary institutions.

Michael is a prominent figure in the financial services industry in Asia. He is the founder and CEO of Hubbis, a renowned provider of intelligence and connectivity for the Asian wealth management industry. With a depth of experience and expertise, he has played a pivotal role in shaping the industry for over 30 years, becoming a leading industry presence in the events, professional development, and publishing space in the region. Hubbis is a multi-generational family-owned and managed business.

He has been actively involved in the Asia-Pacific region since 1993. And has lived in Asia since 1995, holding positions in Hong Kong, Sydney, and Singapore. 

For over 14-years, Hubbis has established itself as the gold standard media and events brand in wealth management thought leadership in Asia. Each year providing a very large body of cutting-edge editorial and sponsored content, organizing top-flight events.

During that time Hubbis has become the platform of choice for many high-profile C-suite leaders to communicate their vision of the Asian wealth management.

Before his involvement with Hubbis, Michael founded Pacific Prospect in 2002, a financial services media company. Under his leadership, the company achieved significant success and was subsequently acquired by global business-to-business publisher Incisive Media in 2006. Michael continued to serve as the CEO of Pacific Prospect until October 2008.

Prior to his entrepreneurial ventures, Michael garnered 5 years of experience in financial markets publishing. His career in this field began in 1993 when he joined Euromoney Publications as the publisher of the quarterly magazine, International Bond Investor. In 1995, Michael joined Thomson Financial Services (now owned by LSEG) and spearheaded the conception and launch of Finance Asia magazine. During his tenure as Managing Director of Finance Asia, he also initiated the Asian Debt Review, Asian Private Capital Magazine, and the Finance Asia Conference Business. In 1997, he founded FIA Limited, further expanding his contributions to the financial publishing industry.

Born in North Wales, Michael served as the head boy of St David's College Llandudno. He holds a degree in Business Administration from Cardiff University. Beyond his professional endeavours, Michael is a family-oriented individual and is happily married with three children: Reanna, Garett, and Tarryn.