Dubai draws the Swiss family offices tired of taxes and regulations

Unlock Free

Roula Khalaf, publisher of the FT, selects her favorite stories in this weekly newsletter.

The Swiss family offices that manage the assets for the rich are seeking to move to Dubai as a confluence of factors from regulation to political debate on taxes erodes the attractiveness of Switzerland.

Ronald Graham, a member of the law firm Taylor Wessing, said that the people of two major family offices, including one with billions of dollars, had told him to explore the United Arab Emirates and that the regulations were the reason. One has already completed the movement.

He said: “There is more regulation in Switzerland, certainly more dissemination in terms of confidential information. Dubai family offices are not subject to the same standards, they can be more private, this is more attractive to the rich in the world.”

There had been no problem or “moment on the road to Damascus” who had persuaded these family offices to consider leaving Switzerland, but an accumulation of obstacles, said Graham, including the definition of “family”.

A family office in Switzerland that manages assets for more than 20 clients, including one family members, or with income or assets above the specified limits, must be licensed as a portfolio manager, attracting a more onerous regulation, according to the Swiss Bank Julius Baer. In contrast, Graham said, Dubai had a wide definition of “family” that did not invite greater regulation.

Rich families have also been concerned about recent political debate in Switzerland, which will hold a referendum earlier this year on the introduction of a 50 percent tax on very large inheritance and gifts.

A beneficiary from a Swiss family office said that political debate and concern about regulation had pushed some people out of the country.

It is expected that the voters will reject the proposal, but the person said: “The insecurity that it has caused in the last two years has obviously prompted some families to reconsider Switzerland as their financial center.” He quoted Norwegian families who had moved to prevent national taxes and Swiss families who occupied their businesses in their family offices.

The two single -family offices, which manage the wealth of a family, and the multi -family offices have moved wholesale to Dubai or establishing a branch there. Around 200 family offices joined the Dubai Financial Center in Dubai last year, according to the DIFC, reaching the total up to 800.

Reto Gareus, a member of the KPMG consulting firm in Switzerland, said that many multi -family offices were moving to the Middle East because their customers moved. “The standard of living in Dubai is huge and the economic system is aimed at businessmen and ultra-resistant individuals,” he said.

Thomas Hug, Deloitte’s fiscal partner in Switzerland, said that Switzerland does not offer generous incentives to investment companies, while some Middle East governments offered “convincing subsidies”.

Dubai also benefited from other changes, from Abolition of the non -domestic regime of the United Kingdom According to high taxes in other European countries and sanctions on Russian assets, according to industry figures.

Family offices operating in Switzerland and exploring the Arab Emirates were “often, according to Yann Mrazek, a partner, sophisticated, multi -directional (i) for non -Swiss nationals,” said Yann Mrazek, a member of M/HQ, who helps rich customers structure their wealth.

The 2024 ranking of Deloitte’s consulting in international wealth management centers said that Switzerland remained the main world center, but that “recent developments … threatened to weaken Swiss competitiveness”, citing the tax, regulation and loss of trust among some investors after the bankruptcy of Sueisse credit.

At the same time, some The north -rich Americans They are developing contingency plans to transfer assets to Switzerland, as the Trump administration seems uncertain. The Andermatt skiing village is demonstrating particularly attractive Due to the weakest rules on the property of foreign property.