HONG KONG SAR, CHINA Trends and Developments Contributed by: Hui Wang and Hui Zheng, King & Wood
Introduction According to Boston Consulting Group’s Global Wealth Report 2026, cross-border wealth booked in Hong Kong reached approximately USD2.95 tril - lion in 2025, making Hong Kong the world’s largest cross-border wealth hub for the first time. The report also projects that cross-border wealth managed by Hong Kong will grow by approximately 9% annually between 2025 and 2030, enabling the city to retain its leading global position. These developments may indicate a further stage in the evolution of Hong Kong’s wealth management framework. As a leading interna - tional wealth management hub in Asia, Hong Kong is undergoing its most intensive round of structural policy and legislative change since the introduction of the single-family office (SFO) tax concession regime in 2023. In 2026, that process is advancing on three interrelated tracks: • further enhancement of the tax concession regime for SFOs; • continued refinement of the New Capital Invest - ment Entrant Scheme (the “New CIES”); and • domestic legislative implementation of the Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF) and the amended Common Reporting Standard (the “amended CRS”). These three developments are closely connected. The proposed tax enhancements would broaden the range of qualifying investments available to family- owned investment holding vehicles (FIHVs). This com - pliments the New CIES relaxation of private holding company structures and gives high net worth fami - lies greater flexibility in deploying diversified portfolios through a Hong Kong platform. At the same time, the CARF and the amended CRS signal a regulatory shift from market access to tax transparency, forming the compliance foundation of Hong Kong’s wider wealth management policy framework. For families considering the establishment or optimi - sation of a family office structure in Hong Kong, and for their professional advisers, this evolution requires careful attention to both policy developments and compliance requirements. This article considers three key legislative and policy developments affect - ing Hong Kong family offices in 2026 and analyses
their potential impact on investment structuring and compliance strategy: Hong Kong is moving beyond a model based mainly on low tax rates and inves - tor admission schemes towards an institutionalised wealth management platform combining tax conces - sions, capital-entry channels and tax transparency. Enhancement of the SFO Tax Regime in 2026 Hong Kong’s family office policy has delivered meas - urable results since 2023. According to the Market Study on the Family Office Landscape in Hong Kong, commissioned by Invest Hong Kong (InvestHK), con - ducted by Deloitte and published on 10 February 2026, Hong Kong was home to 3,384 SFOs by the end of 2025. This represented an increase of about 680 from the approximately 2,700 recorded at the end of 2023, representing growth of over 25% in two years. The study estimates that annual operat - ing expenditure by SFOs in Hong Kong contributes approximately HKD12.6 billion to the local economy and directly supports over 10,000 full-time profession - al positions. These figures suggest continued growth in Hong Kong’s family office sector and provide an indication of the scale of the local wealth management ecosystem. The foundation of the existing tax concession regime The current family office tax concession regime is founded on the Inland Revenue (Amendment) (Tax Concessions for Family-owned Investment Holding Vehicles) Ordinance 2023, which came into effect on 19 May 2023. Under the regime, profits derived by eligible FIHVs managed by qualifying SFOs from quali - fying transactions may be exempt from Hong Kong profits tax. Key conditions include that: • the SFO must be ordinarily managed or controlled in Hong Kong; • members of the same family must hold at least 95% of the beneficial interest, or no less than 75% is held by a charitable institution exempt from tax under Section 88 of the Inland Revenue Ordinance, provided no unrelated person holds more than 5%; • the SFO must manage family-owned assets of not less than HKD240 million; and • the SFO must employ at least two qualified full- time employees in Hong Kong and incur annual
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