CHINA: An Introduction to Private Wealth Law (PRC Firms)

The Return of the Family Office: Innovation and Standardised Development From a Global Perspective

The family office has long been viewed as the “jewel in the crown” of the wealth management sector, given its proximity investors. The development of the family office in China is not only the inevitable result of the economic growth and wealth accumulation seen over the past four decades since the reform and opening up, but also epitomises the integration of global wealth management concepts and practices. In the context of intensifying global economic competition and diverse family inheritance demands, in-depth exploration of the nature, innovativeness and standardised development of family offices is not only key for industry upgrades but also an important opportunity to establish the future of wealth management in China.

The essence of the family office

Core functions of the family office

The essence of the family office is family governance for wealth management from an independent perspective. This requires a multilevel system characterised by family and corporate governance of family interests for optimal allocation and management of multiple assets from an independent perspective.

A family office should aid family governance, corporate governance and wealth management. Family governance provides patient capital for corporate governance and wealth management, and corporate governance and wealth management provide guarantees and support for family governance, establishing a capital guarantee between corporate governance and wealth management.

Core mechanisms in enhancing family power

Ultimately, the family office should enhance family power – i.e., the human resource, cultural, social and financial capital of the family – from the perspectives of survivability, expansibility and value, and promote effective operation and aggregation of the aforementioned forms of capital.

Core demands of high net worth families and innovations in the family office

The core needs of high net worth families can be summarised as follows:

• bottom-line security – ensuring wealth and family security against a backdrop of global economic fluctuations and geopolitical tensions;.
• full compliance – addressing tax, legal and regulatory challenges in multiple jurisdictions;
• value balancing – finding a safe long-term balance between the family, the family business and social aspects;
• sustainable development – ensuring robust development of the family and family business from a global perspective, in a complex environment where uncertainty is increasing; and
• systematic inheritance – achieving long-term influence through precise and systematic inheritance mechanisms, considering wealth succession and cultural continuity.

Satisfying the core demands of the family requires not only financial and non-financial services but also enterprise services, operational assets and non-operational assets, both domestic and overseas.

The global deployment of wealthy Chinese families’ assets and businesses – onshore, mid-shore and offshore – is an inevitable long-term trend encompassing identity planning, wealth allocation, business system development and ownership structure considerations.

Chinese families require services offering protection, private wealth management and enhanced family power. Patient capital should be built up to solve various family challenges arising in different jurisdictions – this is the essence of the Chinese family office.

Family offices need to create innovative business models, organisational models, business systems and service tools, but should also embrace the trend towards more intelligent, ecological and systematic structuring through optimised digital tools and platforms.

Standardised development of the Chinese family office

Family wealth management should respect the six basic principles of compliance, value, familiness, systematicness, sustainability and adaptability. Conquering time and human nature with both strength and flexibility is one of the essences of family wealth management, which requires multi-jurisdictional compliance to achieve solidity and reliability. Family offices must accept the different styles of supervision of different jurisdictions, paying particular attention to operational and management compliance. Standardised development is at the core of the family office.

Protecting and managing families and family businesses is not only the responsibility of the family office, but also the cornerstone of social stability and sustainable economic development. The authors look forward to deeper integration of the family office at the global level for the long-term development of individual families and family businesses.

全球视野下家族办公室的回归、创新与规范发展

家族办公室行业，一直被称为财富管理行业皇冠上的明珠，体现了其更贴近投资者的行业特征。中国家族办公室行业的发展，既是改革开放四十余年经济增长和财富积累的必然结果，也是全球财富管理理念与实践融合的缩影。在全球经济竞争加剧和家族传承诉求多样化的背景下，深刻探讨家族办公室的行业本质、创新路径与规范发展，不仅是推动行业升级的关键，更是构建中国财富管理未来格局的重要契机。

家族办公室的行业本质与理性回归

家族办公室的核心功能定位

家族办公室的本质在于成为“治理中枢，家族立场；财富管理，独立视角”的关键载体。它既需要从家族利益出发，建立家族治理、企业治理和结构性工具治理的多层次中枢系统，也需要以独立视角整合家族各类资产，实现多元资产管理的优化配置。

真正意义上的家族办公室，应在家族治理、企业治理及财富管理三个层面助力家族：家族治理成果为企业治理、财富管理提供耐心资本，企业治理与财富管理成果为家族治理提供保障支持，企业治理与财富管理之间形成资本保障。

家族力提升的核心机制

家族办公室最终应当帮助家族整体提升家族力、具体而言就是从从生存力、发展力及价值力出发，整体提升家族的人力资本、文化资本、社会资本及金融资本，进而形成促进上述资本集合体有效运行并充满活力的机制。

只有能够实现上述功能和价值的家族办公室，才是真正意义上的家族办公室。所以我们认为，当下中国家族办公室的发展重心，不应是盲目创新，而应当是理性回归与坚守：回归到家族办公室的行业本质，回归到家族办公室的功能与价值。

家族核心诉求与家族办公室的创新路径

家族核心诉求的多维探索

高净值家族的核心需求可以概括为五个层面：

• 底线安全：在全球经济波动和地缘政治紧张的背景下，确保财富与家族安全，保障发展成果。
• 全面合规：应对多法域下的税务、法律与监管挑战。
• 价值平衡：在全球视野下实现家族价值、企业价值与社会价值的长期平衡，实现根本安全。
• 持续发展：在不确定持续增强的复杂环境中，实现全球视野下家族与家族事业的良性发展。
• 系统传承：通过科学化和系统化的传承机制实现长远影响力，实现财富承继、权杖交接及文化相续这一完整意义上的家族系统传承。

创新服务模式与系统化能力构建

家族众多核心诉求的实现，不仅需要金融与非金融服务的融合，还需要家族服务与企业服务、经营性资产服务与非经营性资产服务、境内服务与境外服务的打通。这就意味着家族办公室需要通过适当方式构建金融与非金融，家族与企业，境内与境外的专业与服务能力，需要持续打造的是全球视野下整体解决方案的系统规划与落地能力。

中国高净值家族的人、财、事于在岸、中岸与离岸的全球布局，已经是一个必然的长期趋势，具体而言，包括身份国际化规划、财富国际化配置、商业体系国际化发展、所有权结构国际化布局。家族办公室如何才能顺应趋势的变化，真正助力家族的全球布局呢？

中国家族既需要保护、管理与传承的服务宽度，同样也需要私人财富管理、家族（企业）顶层结构设计，家族力整体提升的服务深度。从基础前提构建，结构能力打造，耐心资本养成，去解决不同层次、不同阶段、不同目标及不同法域的各类家族挑战及家族事务，这才是当下中国家族办公室的关键服务场景。

在这些过程中，家族办公室不仅需要服务模式的创新，组织模式的创新、业务系统的创新、服务工具的创新，还应拥抱智能化、生态化、系统化与结构化的服务趋势，通过数字化工具与平台实现服务的深度优化。

中国家族办公室行业的规范化发展之路

家族财富管理应当坚守合规性、价值性、家族性、系统性、持续性和可适性等六项基本原则，“以坚固与柔软战胜时间与人性”，这是家族财富管理的本质之一。由此，家族财富管理必须实现全球多法域下的合规性，同时也要尊重多法域下制度的价值性，以实现“坚固”和“可靠”。同时，伴随着中国家族办公室的全球布局，家族办公室不仅要在各法域接受不同程度、不同风格的监管，同时也要特别注重运营中的全面合规，更要注重服务中的合规管理，规范发展是家族办公室行业发展的核心基础与前提。

助力家族（企业）实现保护、管理与传承，不仅是家族办公室行业的责任，更是社会稳定与经济可持续发展的基石。期待中国家族办公室行业与全球视野深度融合，共同推动家族企业基业长青！