Guru of Asian family offices

Importance of professional counsel Dubbed the “Guru of Asian Family Offices” by the Singapore Academy of Law, David Chong is intimately familiar with how private wealth is managed. His keen insights are the result of more than three decades’ experience leading the Portcullis Group, one of Asia’s largest independent trust, fund, and family office service providers. “Professionalism,” he says, “is what is most essential in running a family office.” He suggests that it is lacking in most family offices in Singapore and the region. He gives the example of a matriarch filling her shoebox with statements from multitudinous private bankers and relying on her secretary to sort them out. “If you don’t have professionals looking out for the family office, you’re asking for trouble,” he says, stipulating the importance of hiring people who don’t have conflicts of interest. “You can either sell advice or you can sell products, but you cannot sell both.”

Key capabilities of principals

Chong heads his own family office along with his adult son and daughter. He notes that one can employ the best brains in the world, but if the principals do not have a moral compass, they will run the family office into the ground. Honesty and integrity are essential traits for family wealth managers, and to his children, and the children of the family offices he serves, he says, “None of you needs to work a day in your lives. So be honest, and do something for society.”

“Divorce, predators, taxes” — CHONG ON WHAT CAN DESTROY A FAMILY OFFICE