Singapore Breakfast Briefing: Wealth Preservation and Investor Migration in a Transparent Environment

Peter Godber has over 30 years’ experience in taxation advisory services, working with several high profile firms. For most of the last 20 years, he has practised with Grant Thornton.

He has advised individuals and businesses, both private and public, and has specialised in international taxation.

He is currently leader of taxation services in the Singapore office of Grant Thornton, working with a team of tax professionals servicing the compliance and advisory needs of local and international clients of Grant Thornton.

Professional qualifications and memberships:

• National Councillor of The Tax Institute in Australia
• The Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners
• Executive member of the Singapore branch of the International Fiscal Association

Richard Grasby is a Partner in Appleby’s Hong Kong office, leading the Private Client, Trusts and Family Office practice.

Richard advises trustees, ultra-high net worth individuals, private trust companies and family offices on the establishment, restructuring and administration of trusts, including special trusts i.e. BVI VISTA, Cayman STAR and Employee Benefit Trusts. He regularly assists in estate administration, succession planning and family governance. Private clients and family offices instruct Richard to advise on the use of corporate vehicles for asset holding and succession planning purposes. Richard is an expert in regulatory law including AML, AEOI, economic substance and licensing and risk management for trust companies. He also advises on collective investment funds, particularly unit trusts and private label funds.

Richard has acted for many of the world’s leading trust companies, financial institutions, wealthy individuals and related structures. He has experience with dealing with clients and advisors across the globe.

Richard has over 20 years’ post qualification experience with the majority spent in offshore firms. Richard has lived and worked in Jersey, London, the Cayman Islands and (since 2009) Hong Kong. He is admitted as a solicitor in England and Wales and the British Virgin Islands and is a Registered Foreign Lawyer in Hong Kong. He has also been admitted as an Attorney in the Cayman Islands.

Richard is an active member of STEP. He has been on the local executive committee since 2012 and is a former chair. He is on the global steering committees for the Business Families and International Client Special Interest Groups. He is a member of the Academic Community.

Richard is an elected Academician of the International Academy of Estate and Trust Law (the only such offshore practitioner in APAC). He is also a Certified Anti Money Laundering Specialist.

Richard is a lecturer on trusts and family offices for the Hong Kong Securities and Investment Institute and for the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

He is a member of the Hong Kong Trustee Association, the Family Firm Institute the International Bar Association and the Investment Migration Council.

Richard is an active speaker at events across the world and a writer for many journals.

Wong Lee Head of Wealth Planning Singapore for Union Bancaire Privée.

In this role, Lee is responsible for spearheading the delivery of innovative and market-leading wealth structuring solutions in the areas of intergenerational succession planning, tax and estate planning, legacy planning, liquidity planning, family governance and philanthropy advisory. She covers the markets of Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand and the Non-Resident India segment.

A lawyer by training, Lee has some 20 years of experience in the legal, fiduciary and financial services. She joined from UBS, where she was responsible for advising high net worth clients in addressing their family wealth transition needs as well as philanthropic aspirations.

Lee graduated with a Bachelor of Laws from the National University of Singapore. She was appointed a Chartered Trustee by the Singapore Trustee Association in 2015

The Hon. Philippe A. May is a part of the inception of the Arton Capital office in Singapore and oversees the Asia Pacific Region. His career began as a portfolio manager for Asian Equities at Credit Suisse in Zurich. After his move to Singapore he became vice president of EFG Private Bank and director of VP Bank. Mr. May is a Swiss-certified financial planner and banking specialist. He holds a Bachelor of Business Administration and studied Chinese at Jiao Tong University in Shanghai. In 2011 the government of St. Vincent and the Grenadines appointed him as its Honorary Consul to Singapore.

Dr Angelo Venardos is founder and CEO of the Heritage Trust Group, an independent trust and corporate services company with offices in Singapore, Hong Kong and the BVI, and has associated entities in Brunei, New Zealand and Seychelles.

In December 2013, Dr Venardos was appointed to the board of directors of STEP Worldwide in London. He is a member of the Singapore Trustees Association, Singapore Academy of Law, Singapore Institute of Directors and Singapore Institute of International Affairs. He is the editor of World's Leading Financial and Trust Centres , and Islamic Banking & Finance in South East Asia: Its Development & Future.