MALAYSIA NEEDS THESE THREE THINGS TO SUCCEED AS WEALTH HUB: WEALTH MANAGEMENT EXPERT

MALAYSIA NEEDS THESE THREE THINGS TO SUCCEED AS WEALTH HUB: WEALTH MANAGEMENT EXPERT

Kuala Lumpur, 7 October 2025 — Malaysia’s generous package of tax incentives designed to woo single-family offices could deliver RM10.7 billion of economic benefits, but incentives alone are insufficient. Malaysia needs to match the incentives with action in three key areas of policy stability, credibility, and ecosystem. That’s the
conclusion reached in comments released today by Haroon Anwar, who heads Juwai IQI’s Global Wealth Office.

The Family Office Boom Is Here

Mr Anwar said: “Malaysia can succeed as an accessible base for smaller and newer family offices, mostly from South Asia and Southeast Asia. This is what you’ll start to see over the next few years: new infrastructure announced to improve connectivity and lifestyle options in Forest City, new banking regulations and tax laws to address the issues of most relevance to family offices, a new visa for expert financial professionals, and ambassadors for Malaysia’s financial system who spread the word about the opportunities offered here.

“For those not in finance, “SFO” stands for single-family office. Family offices are the companies that wealthy families create to manage their money and investments. One of the biggest family offices in Asia is the Hartono Family Office in Jakarta. It manages RM88 billion of assets belonging to Indonesian billionaires Michael and Robert Hartono, owners of the Djarum tobacco company.

“The Hartono office is exceptionally large, but the average family office still manages a significant RM8.4 billion in assets. Malaysia is targeting offices with much smaller assets.

“The reason Malaysia sees an opportunity is that, over the next decade, family offices will go through an unprecedented generational transition. By 2035, 40% of all family offices operating today will have handed their money down from one generation to the next.

“That’s not all. In the next five years, the number of Asian SFOs is expected to surge. Their numbers will climb by 40%, from 2,290 in 2024 to 3,200, and many of them will have just the right level of assets to be attracted to Malaysia.

“The economic benefits of attracting family offices are huge. The RM10.7 billion in additional economic growth will be delivered in part because every family office that sets up in Malaysia will be required to have a local team and spend RM500,000 in the local economy.

Malaysia’s Value Advantage

“Malaysia’s value advantage starts with a lower minimum asset standard of RM 30 million. While that’s significant, it’s small by global family office standards. RM30 million is only about one-quarter of Hong Kong’s minimum and even less in comparison to Dubai’s minimum of RM211 million.

“The RM500,000 annual minimum operating costs which I have already mentioned are also significantly lower than what it costs family offices to keep their doors open and lights on in the established wealth hubs.

“The third and probably most important element of Malaysia’s value advantage is the blanket 0% tax rate for up to 20 years, as well as one-off stamp-duty and CGT relief.

The other wealth hubs offer their own tax advantages, of course, but they are less appealing for smaller family offices. In that respect, no other wealth hub quite matches Malaysia’s incentives.

What We Need Next

“In my advisory work with HNWIs and regional businesses, I’ve seen one truth repeat itself: family offices follow stability, credibility, and maturity of ecosystems, not just incentives. Thus, Malaysia must make improvements in these three key areas if its family office strategy is to succeed. Let’s look at each in turn.

“First is regulation and policy stability. Because such large sums are at stake, and family offices exist to preserve wealth across generations, we need to provide clear rules on tax and succession. Malaysia must eliminate ambiguity by enacting clear, long-term policies on inheritance, trust structures, jurisdictional matters, and family office taxation.

“To achieve credibility as a hub for family offices, Malaysia needs world-class advisors spreading the word and successful case studies to demonstrate what can be achieved here.

“Creating a mature financial ecosystem is the most complex of the three keys to success. An ecosystem is the combination of regulations, lifestyle, financial opportunities, talent, market access, and connectivity. Together, all these factors make it possible to do business at a world-class level.

“The ecosystem in Malaysia needs a “Family Office Talent Pass” to attract global wealth management experts, of which there are too few in the country. We need to deepen capital market products tailored to family offices “We believe Malaysia will rapidly deliver on these key areas and successfully compete with the likes of Hong Kong by defining its own niche as the Asian home for small and medium-sized family offices – thus reaping billions of ringgit in economic benefits.”

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