DBS multi-family office hits $1b in assets under management, on track for $2b by end-2026
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This comes two years after DBS launched the DBS Multi Family Office Foundry VCC.
ST PHOTO: KUA CHEE SIONG
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- DBS Private Bank's Multi Family Office (MFO) has reached $1 billion AUM, onboarding 25+ ultra-high-net-worth families since its launch.
- DBS is targeting $2 billion AUM by 2026, engaging 15+ potential families from Europe, India, Greater China and Asia, using Singapore's VCC structure.
- DBS MFO offers tax exemptions and diverse investments, including alternative assets and crypto (in separate sub-funds), with integrated governance support.
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SINGAPORE – A multi-family 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 ultra-high-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.
DBS MFO is the mother VCC. Clients put in at least $15 million to set up their sub-funds under the umbrella of the VCC.
They will not have to go through the process of applying for tax exemptions, as DBS MFO has already obtained the tax exemption for all sub-funds.
The funds will be managed by a team of portfolio managers from DBS, or the families can choose to have a family member or an investment adviser manage their sub-funds.
Mr Lee said clients can invest freely in different products and solutions from DBS, including those that are not the bank’s products.
For instance, to tap growing interest in alternative investments, such as private markets, DBS MFO clients have the option to deploy some of their funds into private equity offerings from Hamilton Lane, SeaTown and Blackstone, among others.
They can also subscribe for insurance policies, Mr Lee added.
Clients who want some investments in digital assets also have the option to invest in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin via the DBS Digital Exchange.
Mr Lee said that because cryptocurrencies do not currently enjoy tax exemptions under Singapore’s tax exemption schemes, these clients will have to set up a separate sub-fund for their crypto investments.
They can have one sub-fund that invests in assets that benefits from tax incentives, and one that does not enjoy tax benefits, he added.
The DBS MFO VCC will undertake governance and compliance matters on behalf of clients.
“We have sourced and engaged the fund administrator, the back-office accountant to do the annual filing. Everything is taken care of,” Mr Lee said.
DBS said cost optimisation, manpower benefits and ease of administration were some of the draws of the MFO for clients who were originally considering a single-family office (SFO).
Ultra-rich families will be able to access other services – from consumer banking and wealth management to institutional banking – under the DBS “One-Bank” proposition.
Under the arrangement, DBS was able to help one of its private bank clients expand his business across Asia by tapping its corporate and investment banking franchise for funding. The bank also recently advised a private bank client on his company’s listing plans.
Mr Lee said more than half of the bank’s MFO clients have also extended the conversation with the bank into philanthropy, sustainability, legacy and estate-planning matters.
To meet growing demand, DBS has grown its staff strength in the MFO team by 35 per cent in the past calendar year, he added.
Some families under the MFO are interested in trying out Singapore as a destination for their own SFO, said Mr Lee.
This is especially the case if the founder has more specific objectives in mind – for example, to run a personal philanthropy programme.
They may do so eventually if they find that they like Singapore and want to deploy more capital – financial and human – to the Republic, he added.
They can then plug out and move their funds into an SFO that the bank can help to set up, he added.
DBS currently banks more than one-third of the SFOs established in Singapore. The assets under management of its family office segment have also more than doubled in the past two years, the bank noted.
The number of SFOs here shot past 2,000 by the end of 2024, from 1,400 at the end of 2023, Monetary Authority of Singapore deputy chairman Chee Hong Tat had said at the UBS Asia Wealth Forum on Jan 14, 2025.
