Asia Market Update

Asia has been home to the fastest-growing economies in the world. Like everywhere, COVID-19 has put a brake on those developments. The pandemic has hit the travel and hospitality sector hard and we have seen a decrease in consumer expenditure. With demand affected both at home and in markets across the world, production has weakened. The Asian Development Bank says it is the first time in six decades there has been such a regional slump. The economy is expected to shrink by 0.7% in 2020. But the region is expected to rebound in 2021, growing by 6.8% next year.

During this time, we continued to develop strategic relationships highlighting our credentials in private wealth structuring and deepening our connections in Asia to distinguish Jersey as a specialist fund jurisdiction in the region. From an international investment perspective, the outbreak of COVID-19, together with the increasingly complex regulatory environment more widely, has meant that investors in Asia are increasingly looking for jurisdictions that can offer certainty and stability.

Our white paper on Asian’s wealth transfer reflects our commitment to the region as we actively work on building relationships with the next generations who will inherit or create much of Asia’s vast wealth in the future. This white paper highlights the key issues, the challenges and the mindsets that will help both the end-clients and wealth management community position themselves for the future and achieve the optimal outcomes. Jersey has a long history, great expertise and an outstanding reputation and we believe that we are ideally placed to work with the wealth management community of Asia as it embraces new opportunities and overcomes these challenges.

An Kelles, Director – Greater China (recently appointed to Director for GCC)