HNWIs motivated more by family security than good causes: survey
From Europe Dec 2 2011 BY: Helen Burggraf
, Contributing Editor
, International Adviser
The prime driver behind the investment goals of ultra high net worth individuals is, by far, the securing of financial security for their families, a survey of UK-based international advisers with such clients reveals.
Ethical and environmental concerns rank low both in terms of their priority and their willingness to expend effort to respond to them, the survey, of 60 advisers and other experts with international clients, finds.
The survey was conducted by Scorpio Partnership for Vaduz, Switzerland-based specialist private banking and trust company Kaiser Partner. Those interviewed included professionals working in the legal, accounting and tax advisory sectors, Scorpio said.
The experts surveyed also told Scorpio’s researchers that the financial centres of the future will be led by Asian markets including Singapore and Hong Kong, as well, further in the future, Shanghai.
Alongside such traditional wealth management jurisdictions as Switzerland and the Channel Islands, these advisers named Liechtenstein as an up-and-coming centre, as a result of its recent effort to remake itself. Once seen as a remote alpine tax haven, the principality is finding its feet as a more mainstream and transparent financial jurisdiction, in part as a result of its role as an asset-assembling centre for British taxpayers with undeclared offshore accounts who are seeking to take advantage of HM Revenue & Customs’ Liechtenstein Disclosure Facility.
This shift on Liechtenstein's part would appear to mirror the opinions of the advisers surveyed by Scorpio, only 13% of whom said banking confidentiality was"more important" to them when selecting a jurisdiction for their HNWI clients, compared to five years ago. Forty-five percent said it was a less important or not important consideration, compared with, for example, a jurisdiction's economic stability, which 57% said was more important to them than five years ago.
Kaiser Partner executive chairman Fritz Kaiser said the results of the Scorpio survey would be analysed next year next to other research conducted with end investors. "If we can collectively learn more about the motives of the end investors directly, it will help us all shape our solutions better," he added.
More about the Kaiser Partner survey may be found on the firm's website, www.kaiserpartner.com.