WMI GFO Summit 2026 – Single Family Office Forum – 5 October 2026

Foo Mee Har, CEO, WMI 

 

 

Distinguished speakers and guests

 

Ladies and gentlemen,

 

It is my great pleasure to welcome you to the WMI Global-Asia Family Office Summit 2026.

 

A special thank you to those who have joined us year after year, and a warm welcome to those attending for the first time.

 

With families here today from Asia, Australia, Europe and the United States, we bring together a wealth of experience across industries and generations. 

 

I hope you will make the most of this gathering—to exchange ideas with fellow families, learn how others are approaching common challenges and take away fresh perspectives for your own family’s journey.

 

This year marks the fifth edition of our Summit, under the theme “Legacy in Action: Capital for the New Horizon.” 

 

Today, we bring together family principals and their family office teams. Tomorrow, we welcome the wider community of advisers and professionals who serve them. 

 

Across the two days, we will welcome close to 650 participants to explore how families can navigate change, deploy capital and sustain their legacy.

 

For more than five years, WMI has nurtured a family office community alongside Singapore’s growing ecosystem. 

 

Thank you to everyone here who has been part of this journey and helped build the vibrant and connected community we have today.

 

Over the past year, WMI has continued to broaden our family office programmes and initiatives, including philanthropy and AI in asset and wealth management. 

 

We have also introduced members to new topics such as quantum computing and art as both an investment and legacy asset. 

 

We conducted an overseas immersion programme that gave next-generation leaders first-hand exposure to emerging technologies and innovation ecosystems.

 

We have expanded our partnerships as well – including a new collaboration with the Law Society of Singapore, with a comprehensive programme designed to equip practising lawyers with specialised private wealth advisory skills.

 

Succession and Next Gen Readiness 

One of the most important questions facing families today is how to prepare the next generation for responsibility. 

 

With the transfer of wealth and leadership under way across Asia, succession has been a major focus of WMI’s research. Today, I would like to share what our latest findings mean for families.

 

Building on last year’s report Asia’s Succession Moment: Closing the Planning Gap to Safeguard Legacy, we have taken that work a step further to examine what next gen development looks like in practice.

 

Today, we launch a new report: Stewardship by Design: Preparing Asia’s Next Generation for Leadership and Impact. 

 

Conducted jointly with academics from Harvard Business School and the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, our study draws on responses from about 150 Asian family offices. It compares their responses with those of family offices worldwide, with the majority from the Americas.

 

Our study found that 49% of Asian respondents consider the next generation prepared, compared with 52% in the comparison group. 

 

The figures are close—but they also reveal a shared challenge: only about half of respondents see the next generation as ready.

 

So what makes the difference for readiness?

Our research identified one finding that stood out: readiness grows through participation. 

 

Younger family members build judgement by taking part in important decisions and learning from those who have carried the responsibility before them.

 

Our study found that when next-generation members have the opportunity to contribute alongside senior family members on consequential decisions, families are almost seven times more likely to see them as ready.

 

Not three times. Not five times. Almost seven times more ready.

 

That is a striking finding. Our research provides strong empirical support for a good practice: involving the next generation in important decisions can play an important role in building readiness for responsibility.

 

And it points to a simple truth.

 

The next generation does not develop judgement by waiting on the sidelines for responsibility to arrive. Yet many families face a practical challenge.

 

They want to prepare the next generation, yet they are not ready to hand over major decisions. Nor do they have to.

 

Our interviews suggest that families making progress often take a calibrated approach. Rather than treating succession as a future event, they approach it as an ongoing process of development.

 

The next generation may begin with joining a family initiative, whether an investment portfolio, a new business initiative, a governance project or a philanthropic endeavour. These are not simply assignments. They are opportunities to participate, contribute and learn.

 

Over time, as experience and credibility grow, so too does involvement in more consequential leadership and strategic decisions.

 

Our research also points to the importance of broad exposure across the family enterprise, clear milestones for development, and governance structures that provide clarity and continuity.

 

But there is no single structure that every family should follow. Asian families differ in size, history and complexity.  A founder-led family need not adopt the structures of a large, multibranch family, while a more complex family may need more formal arrangements in governance and next-generation development.

 

What matters is having a clear path for development that fits the family’s circumstances.

 

New WMI Next Gen Programmes

We are putting these findings into practice through two distinct new programmes to help prepare the next generation.

 

The first is PATH—Purpose, Aspiration, Trust and Heritage—for next-generation members of business-owning and wealth-owning families. 

 

The programme will help participants explore their values and aspirations, deepen their understanding of enterprise, ownership and governance, and consider the different roles they can play as family stewards. 

 

They will identify practical next steps towards making a meaningful contribution to their families.

 

The second, we are developing learning journeys connecting family offices and next-generation members with innovation ecosystems in Singapore and globally. 

 

Through direct engagement with founders, investors, researchers and technology leaders, participants will gain firsthand exposure to emerging technologies and business models. 

 

This understanding will help prepare the next generation to identify new opportunities and contribute to their family’s future.

 

These efforts reflect our theme, “Legacy in Action”—preparing the next generation to shape the future they will inherit.

 

To conclude, I would like to thank all our speakers today for generously sharing their insights and experiences. It is now my pleasure to introduce WMI’s Chairman and GIC’s CEO, Lim Chow Kiat, who will deliver our opening keynote.

 

Chow Kiat leads one of the world’s most important institutional investors, which manages a substantial part of Singapore’s reserves for future generations. 

 

He will share his perspectives on the changing investment landscape and discuss how investors can build resilient portfolios.

 

I wish you all a fruitful and engaging day, with meaningful conversations and fresh perspectives. Thank you, and please join me in welcoming Chow Kiat.