Parliamentary Replies
Published Date: 06 March 2024

Written reply to Parliamentary Question on family offices

Date: For Parliament Sitting on 6 March 2024

Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament

Mr Patrick Tay Teck Guan, Pioneer SMC

Question:

To ask the Prime Minister as of 31 December 2023 (a) what is the number of family offices in Singapore; (b) what is the breakdown in these family offices by (i) nationality (ii) gender and (iii) age; and (c) what is its breakdown in terms of employment of (i) less than 20 employees (ii) 21-50 employees (iii) 51-99 employees and (iv) more than 100 employees; and (d) whether there is any family office classification based on asset and investment type that is outside of the Singapore Standard Industry Classification code 66306.

Answer by Mr Lawrence Wong, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, and Chairman of MAS:

1. As of 31 December 2023, there were around 1,400 Single Family Offices (SFOs) that have been awarded tax incentivesThese are the tax incentive schemes for funds under sections 13O and 13U of the Income Tax Act..

(a) The majority of their workforce comprise of locals. The foreign workforce comes from a range of countries, with most from Asia.

(b) Slightly more than half of the employees are males and slightly less than half are females. In terms of age profile, about 10% are below the age of 30, about 35% are between 30 and 40 years old, and about 55% are above 40 years of age.

(c) Most have fewer than 20 employees and a small number have 20 or more employees.

2. Besides 66306, SFOs have classified themselves under other Singapore Standard Industry Classification (SSIC) codes such as the other codes in the 663 SSIC family relating to fund management activities (e.g. 66301 Traditional/Long-only asset/Portfolio management) and the 702 SSIC family relating to management consultancy activities.

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