Abstract as per original application
(English/Chinese): |
In the past few decades, there have been dramatic changes in the way high-net-worth (HNW) families look at succession planning and the importance and value of such planning for the preservation of wealth and legacies. In the first place, with many such families owning operating businesses, the preservation of control is a common theme in their succession planning and the trust is often selected as the preferred structure for this purpose. Hong Kong, leveraging the city’s strategic location in the Greater Bay Area and sophisticated financial market, continues to expand its trust business in the region for their HNW clientele, whereas its close regional rival, Singapore, seizes upon its political stability and more relaxed COVID restrictions to boost its international competitiveness in trust and wealth management. Second, settlors are increasingly diversifying their investment portfolios to include crypto-assets, which have changed the dynamics of the wealth management industry. As a result of these developments, not only have the traditional rules been liberalised, but the making of trust law norms has become transnational. Despite the prevailing conception of the trust as a quintessential English concept that emerged in medieval England, the modern trust has spread transnationally, and innovations and modifications have been introduced. These innovations and modifications have shifted modern trust research from a predominantly national context to one that emphasises the interaction amongst transnational, national and local law-making. They have also raised the issue of the boundaries of modern trust and succession planning from doctrinal, social and even moral perspectives. Our research project will examine trust and succession planning in Hong Kong and Singapore in this transnational context from the conceptual and doctrinal perspectives to determine how trust and succession planning can best be regulated in these centres:
• First, what is the nature of the transnational legal ordering of modern trust law?
• Second, what are the boundaries of modern trust and succession planning?
• Third, what are the challenges to the traditional conception of trust law, and what are their implications for the irreducible core content of trusteeship?
We believe that an important but unresearched area is how to better regulate trust and succession planning so that the public interest is more fully taken into account. We will publish at least 3 academic articles/book chapters and organise research workshops to offer tangible benefits for academia, trust practitioners and government policymakers.
在過去幾十年中，高淨值（HNW）家族看待繼承規劃的方式發生了巨大變化，並認識到這種規劃對於保存財富和遺產的重要性和價值。首先，由於許多高淨值家族都擁有經營性企業，因此保護控制權是其繼承規劃的共同主題，而信託往往被選爲實現這一目的的首選結構。香港憑藉其在大灣區的戰略位置和成熟的金融市場，繼續爲其高淨值客戶拓展區內的信託業務，而與之相鄰的新加坡則利用其穩定的政治局勢和更爲寬鬆的 COVID 限制，提升其在信託和財富管理方面的國際競爭力。其次，財產授托人的投資組合日益多樣化，將加密資產納入其中，這改變了財富管理行業的動態。
由於這些發展，不僅傳統規則被放寬，而且信託法規範的制定也變得跨國化。儘管人們普遍認爲信託是產生於中世紀英國的典型英國概念，但現代信託已在跨國範圍內傳播，並引入了創新和修改。這些創新和修改使現代信託研究從以國家爲主導的背景轉向強調跨國、國家和地方立法之間互動的背景。它們還從理論、社會甚至道德角度提出了現代信託和繼承規劃的界限問題。我們的研究項目將在這一跨國背景下，從概念和理論的角度研究香港和新加坡的信託和繼承規劃，以確定如何在這些資產管理中心對信託和繼承規劃進行最佳規範：
首先，現代信託法的跨國法律秩序的性質是什麼？
第二，現代信託和繼承規劃的界限是什麼？
第三，傳統信託法概念面臨哪些挑戰，這些挑戰對不可縮減的信管核心內容有何影響？
我們認爲，如何更好地規範信託和繼承規劃從而更充分地考慮公衆利益是一個重要但尚未被充分研究的領域。我們將發表至少 3 篇學術文章/書籍章節，並組織研究研討會，爲學術界、信託從業人員和政府政策制定者帶來清晰可見的效益。
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