Making family wealth last

ASEAN is witnessing a rapid wealth boom with most of this affluence held by traditional Asian family-owned businesses. Private financial wealth in the Asia-Pacific region (excluding Japan) overtook Europe's last year as China minted a million new millionaires, according to a study by The Boston Consulting Group.

And while family businesses in South-east Asia may have made preparations for leadership succession, formal governance structures such as family offices, foundations and trusts have not been widely adopted, according to EIU (Economist Intelligence Unit) research commissioned by Labuan International Business and Financial Centre (Labuan IBFC).

Instead, many are relying on informal channels for conflict resolution, with more than half saying they use family councils. Family councils have varying degrees of scope and authority.