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The Bank aims to equip its clients and their Next Generation with the necessary skills to navigate cross-generational transitions and preserve their family legacy, in a first-of-its-kind Wealth Planning Certificate Programme issued jointly with Cornell University and RSM Hong Kong.

Julius Baer has launched an exclusive Family Wealth Planning Certificate Programme for its UHNW and Next Generation clients across the Asia Pacific region, offering them a deep dive into the intricate dynamics of Family Wealth Planning. With this programme, Julius Baer reinforces its commitment to providing clients with bespoke and best-in-class wealth management services, empowering them to take charge of their wealth and family businesses effectively and sustainably over the long-term.

The first-of-its-kind offered by a wealth manager in Asia, this programme is designed in consultation with the Bank’s front office team, which received feedback from clients on their interest to pursue more in-depth knowledge across various wealth planning topics. This programme aims to equip its clients in Asia with the skills necessary to better navigate cross-generational transitions. The programme includes multidisciplinary training on topics such as understanding and navigating family dynamics, the importance of building trust among family members, why family governance is critical, how to build high performance teams, and succession planning. The programme is an extension of the RSM Family Office Institute, and successful participants will graduate with a certificate of completion from Cornell University’s SC Johnson College of Business Smith Family Business Initiative and Julius Baer.

Commencing in April 2023 with an expected completion in January 2024, the Family Wealth Planning Certificate is on par with top graduate programmes on wealth planning. Participants will complete 14 online modules and acquire the knowledge they need to structure their wealth and family businesses for future success, ensuring that their legacy is preserved for generations to come. In addition to classroom learning, participants will get to network with their peers across the region, learn from real-life case studies and exchange valuable insights and experiences.

Eleanor Yuen, Head of Wealth and Tax Planning Asia, Julius Baer, said, “At Julius Baer, we believe in the power of preparing our clients for success in managing their family enterprises and wealth. During our numerous interactions with our clients, we found that they have a deep desire to go through a more rigorous training programme tailored to their wealth transfer needs in addition to some of the existing short-term programmes that are common in the industry today. Through our partnership with RSM Hong Kong and Cornell University, we are excited to offer our clients a unique programme that provides methodical and independent insights, empowering successors with the knowledge, experience, and resilience needed to navigate both business operations and family affairs. Our goal is to inspire confidence in our clients’ succession planning and support their long-term goals by imparting a holistic view on the wealth planning space. Through this course, we aim to offer our clients a valuable journey towards long-term success.”

 The curriculum, first created for RSM Family Office specialists, is an intensive immersion into the complexity of family office landscapes. Spotting this great opportunity for the new generation of leaders on the cusp of taking over their family businesses, Julius Baer has partnered with RSM Hong Kong to redesign the innovative programme, adding value to their client journey.

Julius Baer deploys a holistic approach to managing wealth and instituted its APAC Wealth Planning business in 2005 to partner with the increasing number of families planning their intergenerational transfer of wealth that is increasingly more complex, a trend highlighted in the 2022 Julius Baer Family Barometer publication, which found that 41% of families have family members on three or more continents. The report also lists the top-three discussion topics ‘beyond investments’ for families as family wealth, family governance, and health, all core topics of focus in the programme.

In addition to this programme, Julius Baer runs several initiatives in Asia, including the Next Generation client initiatives, The Young Partners Elective Asia and the Julius Baer Next Generation Art Prize for Asia. 

Eric Chen, Partner and Head of Private Client Services at RSM Hong Kong said, “RSM has been investing heavily in talent development and has nurtured a highly specialised team catered to serve Family Offices. Through the RSM Family Office Institute powered by Cornell University, our specialists have continued to evolve into subject-matter-experts for clients both internally and externally. We are extremely delighted to collaborate with Julius Baer in transforming this training experience into a valuable journey for their clients. We are launching this programme at a particularly opportunistic juncture, following the recent policy address by the Hong Kong Government and a slate of newly announced incentives to attract Family Offices to Hong Kong. We look forward to playing a role in supporting these efforts.”

Daniel Van Der Vliet, the John and Dyan Smith Executive Director of the Smith Family Business Initiative at Cornell University, remarked “We are proud to partner with Julius Baer and RSM Hong Kong on furthering the development and understanding of those that are engaged with their family enterprises, This unique programme brings together Cornell faculty and leading family business scholars to equip family members and leaders with tools to move their enterprises forward, connect them with other professionals and prepare them to successfully develop relationships and collaborations with their own family and business.”

Renowned experts from Cornell University and RSM Hong Kong will provide the highest quality education and training in the field of family office management over the course.