A family office is not an entity. It is a governance framework.
Who This Is For
You have built, or inherited, something significant. The question is no longer how to grow it. It is how to hold it, govern it, and pass it on intact.
The clients who establish family offices in Singapore share a common situation more than they share a common asset size. They have accumulated wealth, through a business exit, a generational inheritance, a long-running investment portfolio, or a combination of all three, that has grown beyond the capacity of the advisors and structures that managed it when it was simpler.
The existing arrangements were adequate for the business. They were not designed for the family. What they now need is a structure that can hold complexity, across multiple asset classes, multiple jurisdictions, multiple family members with different interests and different time horizons, and govern it coherently over time. A structure that is not merely a vehicle for holding assets but a framework for making decisions, managing relationships, meeting obligations, and transferring what has been built to the next generation without fracture.
That is what a properly designed family office is. And the gap between what most clients establish and what that actually requires is where our work begins.
How BBCG Designs a Family Office
The entity structure follows from your situation. Not the other way around
- The composition and location of the family's assets;
- The family's governance dynamics and decision-making requirements;
- The succession intentions across generations;
- The tax and regulatory exposure across all relevant jurisdictions; and
- The banking relationships the structure will need to support.
From that diagnostic, we design the architecture. The holding entity configuration is selected because it is right for the specific family situation, not because it is the standard template. The governance framework is designed to reflect the family’s actual dynamics, not an abstract best practice.
Execution follows design. BBCG manages the establishment process end to end: entity incorporation, MAS notification or application where applicable, banking relationship preparation, regulatory compliance setup, and the documentation of governance protocols. The structure that results is one that functions as intended from the first day, not one that requires remediation once the family discovers what it actually needs.
The Architecture
The six elements of a family office that holds under pressure.
The selection and structuring of the primary family office vehicle, whether a Variable Capital Company (“VCC”), a private limited company, or even a non- Singapore resident entity, or a combination, aligned with the family's investment strategy, regulatory obligations, and succession intentions.
The entity design determines the tax position, the governance structure, and the banking relationship. It is the most consequential decision in the establishment process.
The policies, protocols, and decision-making structures that ensure the family office functions as intended over time, including the investment policy statement, asset allocation guidelines, authority matrix, conflict of interest protocols, and where appropriate, a family constitution that documents the family's values, objectives, and governance principles across generations.
The design of the investment holding structure beneath the family office vehicle, including the subsidiary entities, the asset segregation framework, the jurisdiction allocation for different asset classes, aligned with the family's investment strategy and the tax efficiency requirements across all relevant jurisdictions.
The ongoing statutory obligations that a Singapore family office carries:
- Reporting requirements to the Monetary Authority of Singapore (“MAS”);
- Financial reporting to the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (“ACRA”);
- Individual and corporate income tax reporting to the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (“IRAS”);
- CRS and FATCA reporting obligations;
- Customer Due Diligence frameworks; and
- The documentation standards that banking relationships and
regulatory inquiries will require
BBCG designs these obligations into the structure from the outset, not as an afterthought once the entity is established.
The legal and governance mechanisms that ensure the family office survives a generational transfer:
- Trust overlays where appropriate;
- Shareholders’ agreements;
- Insurance planning;
- Succession protocols; and
- The governance disciplines that ensure the next generation inherits a functioning framework rather than a complex problem.
The preparation of the KYC documentation, source of wealth narrative, and corporate structure explanation that private banks require before extending a banking relationship to a newly established fund vehicle under a family office structure.
BBCG designs the structure to be bankable from the outset, and manages the banking introduction process as an integrated element of the establishment.
Begin a Conversation
If you are considering establishing a family office in Singapore, or reconsidering one that was not designed the way it should have been, the first step is a structured diagnostic.
There is no proposal until we understand your family’s situation, your succession intentions, and what the structure actually needs to carry. The diagnostic is where the work begins.
