Malaysia’s Forest City family office push gains traction, but ecosystem gaps remain

[JOHOR BAHRU] Forest City’s family office push has moved past paper approvals, with Maybank-assisted early single family offices (SFOs) now operating and holding more than RM700 million (S$219.3 million) in assets under management, according to Malaysia’s largest lender Maybank.

The bigger challenge now is whether a former ghost-town property project can turn early registrations into a large-scale functioning wealth-management ecosystem anchored by capital deployment, professional services and a meaningful on-the-ground presence.

According to Maybank’s Malaysia head of wealth management, Lim Eng Ping, these elements are still building up as many families take a phased approach to implementation.