HKUST Business School Magazine

References 1 Campden Wealth, The Asia-Pacific Family Office Report 2022, Raffles Family Office 2022. 2 Wealth-X, VERY HIGH NET WORTH HANDBOOK, 2020 3 Roger King Center for Asian Family Business and Family Office at HKUST, Overview of Family Businesses in Hong Kong 2022. 4 EY Parthenon (Shanghai) Advisory Ltd, China Asset Management Report, 2022. 5 Campden Wealth, The Asia-Pacific Family Office Report 2022, Raffles Family Office 2022. 6 Campden Wealth, The Asia-Pacific Family Office Report 2022, Raffles Family Office 2022. 7 Campden Wealth, The Asia-Pacific Family Office Report 2022, Raffles Family Office 2022. 8 Campden Wealth, The Asia-Pacific Family Office Report 2022, Raffles Family Office 2022. 9 Campden Wealth, The Asia-Pacific Family Office Report 2022, Raffles Family Office 2022. From traditional philanthropy to strategic philanthropy Traditionally, the prevailing belief in Chinese and other Asian cultures was that the most important role of the older generation – and patriarchs in particular – was to serve as role models for their families and inspire younger generations to follow their legacy in giving back to society. 7 Previously Asian families engaged mainly in traditional philanthropy which is simply “cheque writing”, with limited due diligence and usually only the founding generation is involved. The author sees more and more families start to engage in strategic philanthropy nowadays, which has clearly defined philanthropic focus, making social impact; greater involvement in the giving process, investing time, skills and money; demanding, accountable, transparent outcome and due diligence from organizations they support; and involvement of multiple generations and external partners. In 2018, Harvard Kennedy School reported that Hong Kong was Asia’s leading philanthropy hub, with assets invested in philanthropic initiatives totaling 3.3% of GDP. 8 Hong Kong was also ranked fifth in the world for philanthropic assets in terms of proportion to GDP, behind the Netherlands, Switzerland, the United States and Italy. It was also the only Asian country/region to make the top 10 list. In 2019, a total of 15,700 charitable organizations were recognized by the Hong Kong’s Inland Revenue Department, contributing roughly HK$10 billion to philanthropic causes annually. The HKUST-EY survey reported that all single family office respondents in Hong Kong engaged in philanthropical activities, with a quarter of them conducted strategic philanthropy through formally structured family foundations. 9 Conclusion The wealth of Asian families has seen rapid growth in the past decade. As more and more families enter the wealth management industry in Asia, with their long- term focus and patient capital, they have the potential to create a greater positive impact in society and improve the quality of the wealth management industry as a whole in the long run. Biz@HKUST 15