For family-owned firms in Asia-Pacific, legacy planning is crucial to ensure business sustainability, US bank’s Carra Cote-Ackah says
Goldman Sachs is pushing legacy planning in Asia, including succession and philanthropy, as family offices boom and family-owned businesses continue to dominate the region.
The changing regulatory landscape, growth of family offices and high proportion of family-owned businesses in the region made it a “particularly important period” for wealthy families to engage in generational transition, manage legacies and navigate tensions, said Carra Cote-Ackah, head of legacy planning and philanthropic engagement at the bank’s private wealth-management division.
The US investment bank aimed to provide “best resources” ranging from advisory and fiduciary to philanthropy to Asia’s unique clientele, who were often first-generation wealth creators in innovative and disruptive industries, she said in an interview recently in Hong Kong.
With industry estimates showing that around 85 per cent of Asia-Pacific companies were family-owned, generational legacy planning was crucial to ensuring business sustainability, preserving family wealth and maintaining harmony across generations, according to Cote-Ackah, who was in town for Goldman Sachs’ summer series for the next generation of its wealthy clients.
