Atiqah Mokhtar Published on Wed, Oct 20, 2021
On Oct 20, the Wealth Management Institute (WMI) announced the launch of the Global-Asia Family Office Circle (GFO Circle).
The GFO Circle is a new network aimed at supporting the growth of family offices in Singapore, in partnership with the family office community and with support from the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB) and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).
The GFO Circle will be a platform for industry players to collaborate, share best practices and build new capabilities.
From 2019, the number of family offices in Singapore has doubled to approximately 400 as at end-2020. According to WMI, the GFO Circle aims to build on this momentum to strengthen links across the different players in the family office community, including family office principals, professionals and advisors.
Through the GFO Circle, WMI will provide education programmes, research and thought leadership forums. These will build on WMI’s existing suite of programmes, covering subject areas such as trusts, governance and family office leadership.
To help build investment capabilities in the sector, WMI will launch new programmes on global investment strategies and market principles, in partnership with Dalio Philanthropies and with contributions from global investors including GIC and Temasek.
To help guide a more purposeful wealth allocation, WMI will be collaborating with the Gates Foundation on a new Philanthropy Masterclass, and with Adjunct Professor Bill Burnett from the Stanford Design Programme on a programme on Purposeful Wealth Design.
The GFO Circle will also offer programmes on sustainable investing and impact investing.
“The ultimate goal of the GFO Circle is to be a trusted environment for the family office community to come together, share knowledge and gain access to domain leaders, changemakers, experts and distinguished global thought leaders,” says Foo Mee Har, CEO of WMI.
Foo says WMI has seen strong demand for training from the rapidly growing family office segment. “In the last 12 months, there were over 500 enrolments in WMI’s family office and trusts certification programmes. We are gearing up to double our scale to reach 3,000 enrolments over the next three years across Masterclasses, certification programmes and overseas learning journeys,” she says.
Photo: Bloomberg