Wealth Talks

Zac Lucas
Wealth Talks

Wealth Talks brings together senior industry practitioners to gain insight and understanding on legal, tax and private wealth issues facing UHNWI clients across Asia, particularly in light of the continuing COVID-19 crisis.

  1. 17/12/2022

    Family Office Fraud

    I’m delighted to invite you to join the next episode of Wealth Talks. In this episode, I shall be joined by: David Brownbill KC of XXIV Old Buildings; Mithun Ghosh COO, Taurus Wealth; and Stephen Branford, Partner, KPMG ​In this episode, we shall discuss financial fraud, particularly in the context of continued growth in private equity investments by Single Family Offices. Mithun will kindly start the discussion with a background to industry financial fraud risk management strategies undertaken by multi-family offices, EAMs and private banks, and will highlight the practical approach taken by Taurus Wealth when introducing direct investments to clients. ​Stephen will then be invited to discuss best practice financial due diligence when considering direct equity and indirect fund investments and will share some red flag indicators of possible financial fraud, particularly when considering the financial records and accounts of a target company or fund. ​David and I will end the session with a discussion of the legal fallout when financial fraud is discovered, we will consider typical insolvency remedies, the position of directors of insolvent companies and funds, and possible causes of action against auditors, private banks and regulatory bodies, we shall also consider the difficult position of investors that may be subject to clawback claims for funds previously received from an investment fund that is later found to be a Ponzi Scheme. As with all Wealth Talks, the session will close with a summary of best practice guidance and an opportunity to ask the panel questions.

    1h 12m
  2. 23/07/2022

    Family Office Dispute

    In this episode I shall once again be joined by David Brownbill QC of XXIV Old Buildings. David is a leading Queens Counsel and has been involved in some of the most prominent recent international trust cases, including the Privy Council decisions in Schmidt vs. Rosewood and Crociani vs. Crociani. David and I will discuss Family Office Disputes. Two related aspects will be considered: (a) best practice governance safeguards and precautions to avoid internal Family Office disputes, and (b) where a dispute does occur, best practice dispute management processes and procedures. We shall evaluate both an "Unstructured Family Office", where the family retain direct personal share ownership of the Family Office, and a "Structured Family Office" where the Family Office is held by a trust. When considering an Unstructured Family Office, we shall evaluate the principal governance and dispute management tools available: (a) Shareholders Agreement, and (b) Share Class Rights or Article Amendments. We shall evaluate the pros and cons of each option, and how they may be made to work together. When considering a Structured Family Office, we shall evaluate the options available to a settlor in designing the governance framework of a Family Office Trust, and will critically examine use of the following dispute management tools and/or remedies in the context of a trust: (a) Arbitration Clause (b) Exclusive Jurisdiction Clause (c) No Contest (Sinatra) Clause (d) Restricted Rights of Access to Information (e) Bartlett Clause (f) Trustee Removal We shall end the talk with a summary of best practice guidance in the creation and administration of a suitable Family Office governance framework that will help to ensure the long term success of the Family Office.

    1h 16m
  3. 10/05/2022

    Family Office Trust

    In this episode, I shall be joined by David Brownbill QC of XXIV Old Buildings. As some of you may know, David is a leading Queens Counsel and has been involved in some of the most prominent recent international trust cases, including the Privy Council decisions in Schmidt vs. Rosewood and Crociani vs. Crociani. David and I will discuss and evaluate the Family Office Trust. The question that David and I will answer is whether excessive reservation of powers under the trust to either the settlor or protector may ultimately invalidate the trust? The implications of the recent UK Privy Council decision in Webb vs. Webb [2020] UKPC 22, along with a series of supporting cases including “TMSF” “Pugachev” and “Dua” will be discussed in detail. The trust laws of Singapore and Hong Kong will be considered, in light of those recent decisions, with potential risks highlighted and discussed. The talk will end with a practical assessment of steps that may be taken in order to protect the integrity of a Family Office Trust, including: (a) best practice trust drafting amendments; (b) use of private trust companies; (c) use of offshore trust laws, including Jersey, Guernsey, Cayman and BVI. Demand for Family Office Trusts, containing complex co-governance powers and provisions can be expected to grow, it is therefore imperative that professionals involved in providing trust solutions understand the dangers and limits of reserving excessive powers to either the settlor and/or protector and the practical steps that may be taken in order to protect the integrity of the trust.

    1h 28m
  4. 06/03/2022

    Family Office Privacy

    In this Virtual Round Table, Family Office Privacy will be considered in light of recent international developments aimed at achieving greater levels of disclosure and transparency of internationally held private wealth. The following key initiatives will be considered in detail, applied to a hypothetical multi-jurisdiction Single Family Office: (a) Public Beneficial Ownership Registers; (b) Opaque Offshore Structures; (c) Mandatory Disclosure Rules; (d) Economic Substances Rules; (e) Common Reporting Standard (CRS); (f) Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). Developments in the principal offshore and investment jurisdictions will be taken into account, including: (a) Cayman Islands and British Virgin Islands; (b) Jersey, Guernsey and Isle of Man; (c) United States of America; (d) European Union; and (e) United Kingdom. The webinar will concentrate on the practical impact of recent developments, what professional advisors and wealth planners will need to take into account in advising family office clients, legitimate steps that may be taken to protect the privacy and security of at risk clients and the long term implications to the international private wealth industry. Specific cyber security risks will also be discussed, highlighting areas of increased vulnerability and steps that can be taken to enhance family office cyber security. I'm very grateful to be joined by: Nancy Chien, Partner, Head of International Private Client, Bedell Cristin, Jersey Aki Corsoni-Husain, Partner, Head Global Tax and Regulatory Department, Harneys, Cyprus John Shoemaker, US Counsel, Butler Snow, Singapore Steve Sokic, Group Head of Private Wealth, IQEQ, UK Andrew Ho, Head of Private Wealth, IQEQ, Singapore Paul Jackson, Regional Managing Director, Cyber Security & Investigations, Kroll, Hong Kong Gerallt Owen, Managing Director, Cyber Risk, Kroll, Singapore --- Webinar audio recording dated 2 March 2022. See Disclaimer, Copyright and Trademarks at https://www.zaclucas.com/disclaimer

    1h 30m
  5. 06/02/2022

    PPLI vs. Trusts

    The panelists will discuss:  (a) Core features of a policy and trust, including explanation of terms such a “cash value”, “insurable interest”, “policy distribution” and related trust terms such as “fiduciary office” “fiduciary obligation” and “reserved powers”; (b) Lifecycle differences in settling a trust and subscribing to a policy will also be compared, using the case of a transfer of shares in a company (in specie subscription); (c) Lifecycle differences in the administration of a trust and policy will be compared, split into:     (i) Control: methods to retain control under a trust compared to a policy, particularly in relation to governance and control of an underlying company;    (ii) Benefit: methods to extract benefits from a trust compared to a policy, including a discussion of policy holder redemptions and policy beneficiary distributions;      (iii) Asset Protection: asset protection attributes of a trust and policy compared, particularly in relation to succession, divorce, community property and creditor claims;     (iv) Taxation: tax treatment of a trust and policy compared, with recent changes to Indonesia tax law used to illustrate;     (v) Transparency: financial account reporting (CRS) of a trust and policy during each lifecycle event will also be compared and contrasted. (d) Termination of a trust and policy will also be compared, including possible considerations that may arise where a settlor passes away as compared to a policy holder; (e) Finally, we shall consider combination use of a trust with a PPLI, both in the context of a trust as a policy beneficiary, as well as the case where there is an assignment of a policy into --- Webinar audio recording dated 8 Dec 2020. See Disclaimer, Copyright and Trademarks at https://www.zaclucas.com/disclaimer

    1h 47m
  6. 05/02/2022

    Trustee Liability

    In this podcast, we shall consider the potential liability exposure of Singapore trustees, settlors and protectors. 4 Case Studies will be considered: 1. The first case study will consider whether Singapore trustees, settlors and protectors may validly exclude negligent liability, including “gross” negligence, and whether the settlor of a reserved power trust stands in a fiduciary position; 2. The second case study will consider the effectiveness of a “Bartlett” clause where trustees effectively supervise the activities of underlying companies. The future use of Bartlett clauses will then be considered, particularly in light of recent FATF TCSP guidance; 3. The third case study will consider the liability position of a private trust company (PTC) and its directors, and the basis on which trustee removal proceedings may be brought against a PTC; 4. The fourth and final case study will consider whether a trustee, settlor or protector may rely on a foreign law trust locally administered in Singapore to provide additional liability protection. We are grateful to be joined by: Vikna Rajah, Head, Tax, Trust & Private Client, Rajah & Tann Tan Woon Hum, Partner, Shook Lin & Bok Zac Lucas, Partner, McCarthy Denning Yeoh Lian Chuan, Managing Partner, Sabara Law (Deloitte Legal) Antonio Ribeiro, Partner, Rhone Trustees --- Webinar audio recording dated 8 July 2020. See Disclaimer, Copyright and Trademarks at https://www.zaclucas.com/disclaimer

    1h 29m

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Wealth Talks brings together senior industry practitioners to gain insight and understanding on legal, tax and private wealth issues facing UHNWI clients across Asia, particularly in light of the continuing COVID-19 crisis.

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