The launch aligns with the Hong Kong government flagging its desire to attract family offices, HNW individuals, and families to the city. Julius Baer said that its programme, run in conjunction with the RSM Family Office Institute, is the first of its kind in Asia.

Julius Baer has
launched an exclusive family wealth planning certificate
programme for its ultra-high net worth and next generation
clients in the Asia-Pacific region.

The Swiss bank which, as reported elsewhere, has also
opened a new Hong Kong office, said the programme is the
first of its kind to be offered by a wealth manager in Asia.
Julius Baer designed it after consulting its front-office team
and receiving feedback from clients.

The programme is an extension of the RSM Family Office Institute,
from which successful participants will graduate with a
certificate of completion from Cornell University’s SC Johnson
College of Business Smith Family Business Initiative and Julius
Baer.

The move comes after Hong Kong’s government flagged its desire to
attract family offices and HNW individuals and families to the
city, mindful of competition from rival centres such as
Singapore. Such ventures also tap into an oft-repeated point that
more must be done to prepare NextGen clients and families for
wealth transfer and business transition.

The course aims to equip its clients in Asia with the skills
necessary to navigate cross-generational transitions more
effectively. The programme includes multidisciplinary training on
topics such as understanding and navigating family dynamics, the
importance of building trust among family members, why family
governance is critical, how to build high performance teams, and
succession planning, the bank said in a statement.

Julius Baer expects that the programme, due to start in April,
will complete in January 2024.

Participants will complete 14 online modules and acquire the
knowledge they need to structure their wealth and family
businesses for future success in order to ensure that their
legacy is preserved for generations to come. In addition to
classroom learning, participants will be able to network with
their peers across the region, learn from real-life case studies
and exchange valuable insights and experiences.

“During our numerous interactions with our clients, we found that
they have a deep desire to go through a more rigorous training
programme tailored to their wealth transfer needs in addition to
some of the existing short-term programmes that are common in the
industry today,” Eleanor Yuen, head of wealth and tax planning
Asia, Julius Baer, said. “Our goal is to inspire confidence in
our clients’ succession planning and support their long-term
goals by imparting a holistic view in the wealth planning space.”

The bank said it is tapping into clients’ needs at a time when
family wealth planning and dynamics are becoming more
complicated. For example, in its 2022 Julius Baer Family
Barometer publication, it found that 41 per cent of families have
family members on three or more continents. The report also lists
the top-three discussion topics “beyond investments” for families
as family wealth, family governance, and health, all core topics
of focus in the programme.

“RSM has been investing heavily in talent development and has
nurtured a highly specialised team catering to serve family
offices. Through the RSM Family Office Institute powered by
Cornell University, our specialists have continued to evolve into
subject-matter-experts for clients both internally and
externally,” Eric Chen, partner and head of private client
services at RSM Hong Kong, said.

“We are launching this programme at a particularly opportunistic
juncture, following the recent policy address by the Hong Kong
Government and a slate of newly-announced incentives to attract
family offices to Hong Kong,” Chen said.