The Tribune

Two Callenders & Co partners will head to Shanghai next month for a major international. financial conference on wealth and asset management, which is expected to attract some 500 advisors and professionals serving China’s fast-growing high net worth individual population.

Trust and asset recovery specialist, Courtney Pearce, and aviation and development specialist, Llewellyn Boyer-Cartwright, will attend the China Offshore Summit, where the Bahamas is set to figure prominently.

Set for October 15-16, the Summit is aimed at giving China’s wealthiest individuals the latest information on maintaining and growing the capital they are amassing.

“As China’s economy has exploded over the past decade, it has given rise to a generation of high net worth individuals who are intent on identifying the safest places for investment,” said Ms Pearce.

“They may be new to financial markets, but they are very sophisticated, very savvy and very cautious. Because of that, we believe that the Bahamas is ideal as we are both an attractive place to invest and a great place to reside - at least part-time.”

Mr Boyer-Cartwright said the Bahamas’ experience gives it another advantage over rival jurisdictions.

“Financial service providers in the Bahamas have spent decades developing and fine-tuning an array of wealth management and asset protection products that we are able to offer to those who now find they have the need for such products, but have not yet developed the requisite financial infrastructure,” he said.

“Our history and experience speak for themselves. The Bahamas has been successfully managing more than $1 trillion in global wealth while meeting ever-greater regulatory requirements.”

According to China Offshore, which organises the conference: “By the end of the 2013 third quarter, China had reached annual non-financial ODI (outward direct investment) levels of $87.3 billion, and over 1.2 million in identified HNWI (high net worth individuals).

“These figures accentuate both the opportunity and the challenge present for local and international practitioners to deliver reliable ‘offshore’ solutions to their mainland clients.”

This is the fourth year of the conference billed as a “premium platform for information exchange, business development and much-needed education for Chinese intermediaries in this burgeoning market”.

The need to find counsel and investment opportunities is so pressing that there are daily stories of wealthy Chinese persons paying cash for million dollar high rise apartments in some of the world’s most expensive cities because of a belief in the safety of external real estate investments.

The Ministry of Financial Services and the Bahamas Financial Services Board will also be in attendance at the China Offshore Summit as part of comprehensive outreach efforts in Asia that also include events in Hong Kong and Beijing.