DBS multi-family office hits $lb in assets under management

Bank in talks with potential targets, on track to boost figure to $2b by end-2026

- Chor Khieng Yuit Senior Business Correspondent

A multifamily office (MFO) under DBS Private Bank has achieved a milestone of $1 billion in assets under management, with a global client list of more than 25 ultra-rich families.

Mr Lee Woon Shiu, group head of wealth planning, family office and insurance solutions at DBS, said the bank is currently in talks with more than 15 potential ultrahigh-net-worth families and is on track to double its assets under management to $2 billion by the end of 2026.

The families come from Europe, India, the Greater China region - comprising China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan - and other parts of Asia.

The bank’s update on Sept 23 comes two years after it launched the DBS Multi Family Office Foundry VCC (DBS MFO), which leverages Singapore’s variable capital company (VCC) structure.

VCC is a corporate structure for investment funds that can be set up as an umbrella fund with two or more sub-funds, each holding a portfolio of assets and liabilities segregated from the other sub-funds.

VCCs come under the Variable Capital Companies Act, which took effect on Jan 14, 2020, and is administered by the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority.

Mr Lee noted that DBS MFO’s solutions could find particular favour in three markets - Taiwan, Japan and Britain, where there are very specific laws and taxes that residents must abide by.