Raffles Family Office rolls out integrated digital-asset platform
RFO believes its new Revo platform marks the latest evolution in wealth management, and will support a smooth transition from traditional to digital assets for wealthy families
Genevieve Cua
RAFFLES Family Office (RFO) has rolled out a digital asset platform to facilitate investment and custody services for digital assets, in anticipation of the time when central banks issue their own digital stablecoin-equivalents, and they become more widely accepted as a form of currency and an asset class.
RFO’s platform is a partnership with Hong Kong-listed Huobi Technology Holdings whose business is focused on building the infrastructure for a one-stop asset platform, bridging traditional finance with digital assets.
The service, called Revo Digital Family Office, enables clients to access and invest in digital assets via a consolidated wealth management platform. In a statement, RFO cited a study by Accenture which found that three in four wealthy investors are interested in digital assets, with over half already investing in them.
Most wealth management firms and private banks do not provide custody, investment or advisory services for digital assets, which are seen as external to traditional portfolios. The extent of advice is typically an occasional commentary on cryptocurrencies. RFO, a multi-family office with close to 200 clients, believes it is the first wealth manager with this service.
Ray Tam, Revo chief executive, said Revo is designed with the needs of both traditional and digital asset wealth holders in mind, “to serve as the bridge and spur connectivity among partners across both traditional and digital assets in a unified ecosystem’’.
“The growing interest in digital assets shown by UHNW (ultra high net worth) investors in Asia presents new opportunities for the wealth management industry, but it is at risk of being overlooked and underserved … (The platform) also provides crypto-native UHNW investors with an easier path to traditional asset management, with access to relationship managers and improved succession planning for the next generation.”
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Tam said the firm is seeing clients who are keen to diversify into digital assets, as well as HNW individuals whose wealth is accumulated from crypto investments. Revo has been soft launched to existing clients; a wider rollout is planned next year.
Earlier this year, International Monetary Fund (IMF) managing director Kristalina Georgieva said that the world has moved beyond conceptual discussions on central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) into experimentation. As many as 100 countries are exploring CBDCs “at one level or another’’. Some have begun to distribute CBDCs to the public.
“If CBDCs are designed prudently, they can potentially offer more resilience, more safety, greater availability, and lower costs than private forms of digital money. That is clearly the case when compared to unbacked crypto assets that are inherently volatile,” she said.
RFO group chairman Chi-man Kwan believes digital assets’ share of wealth, particularly among younger millionaires, will eventually be substantial. “We expect that in the future, there will be people coming in with a US$100 million portfolio, with around 60 per cent in fiat currency. But 30 or 40 per cent of it will be stablecoins, tokens or even NFTs (non-fungible tokens).
“We need to have the capability to deal with that... We are going after the whole new world of the finance.”
Cryptocurrencies have endured a steep bear market in 2022. Bitcoin (BTC) alone is down by 59 per cent year to date, worse than S&P 500. This has raised questions on crypto’s much touted diversification benefits. Still, institutions are keen to establish a foothold – even if wealth managers remain cautious on clients’ direct allocations. BNY Mellon, for instance, has entered the crypto custody business.
Kwan said: “We understand that UHNW clients want greater and easier access to a wider range of digital assets, but are at times held back by concerns over complexity, uncertainty, and legitimacy.
“We recognise the significant role blockchain technology and digital assets will play in preserving, growing, and transferring wealth in the future. The launch of Revo DFO marks the latest evolution in wealth management that will support and facilitate smooth transition from traditional to digital for UHNW families in Asia.”
RFO said that Revo’s integrated dashboard can provide portfolio breakdown and analysis of fiat and cryto assets; real-time market information; historical data breakdown; and product and fund selector in one place. At launch, the platform will support major custodians and digital wallets, and provide asset management services for both traditional (US dollar, structured products, investments) and digital (US dollar coin, BTC, NFT) assets.
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