website. (Horwath, the site
notes on its ‘About us’
page, “are one of the only
accounting firms in Hong
Kong to offer full financial
planning services for
corporate and individuals
via Horwath Financial
Services Ltd”).
l Advisory regulation
At least as important as its
affiliation with the accountancy
firm with which it
shares a name has been
what Bojan notes is
Horwath‘s unbroken 13
years in business “without
any problems or complaints”.
Such a record is a
more significant achievement
than it might be in
some more mature IFA
markets, since regulation
of Hong Kong’s advisory
industry is still fairly recent,
and there have been some
high profile casualties over
the years.
Indeed, when he first
arrived in Hong Kong,
“you could literally be serving
behind a bar one week
and calling yourself a
financial planner the next”,
Bojan recalls.
This is no longer the
case, he adds. “Nowadays,
there is a formal licensing
Hang seng vs msci world
%
160
120
80
40
0
Hong Kong Hang Seng
-40
Jul ’04 Jul ’05 Jul ’06
Source: Trustnet Offshore
and examination regime,
as well as close supervision
by the regulatory
authorities, which has been
stepped up over the last
two to three years in particular,
with a focus on
ensuring that financial
planners are doing a proper
job of assessing their clients’
risk appetite and
matching them with the
most suitable products.”
In implementing such
rules, Hong Kong is “rapidly
moving in the direction
of the UK and
Australia”, whose regulatory
frameworks Hong Kong
is often seen to borrow
from, Bojan notes.
Plans by Hong Kong’s
regulators to force financial
intermediary PrOFiLe HOrwatH FinanciaL services
MSCI World
Jul ’07
advisers and other sellers
of investment products to
disclose commissions to
their customers, for example,
come more than 20
years after commission disclosure
requirements were
introduced in the UK.
l Fair play
Jul ’08
Of those plans, Bojan
echoes other IFAs in welcoming
them “as long as
you have a level playing
field” – that is, as long as
banks, insurance agents
and other product providers
are subject to the same
disclosure requirements.
According to a number
of sources familiar with the
discussions, this is not yet
Key POints
Horwath was originally the
financial planning arm of an
accountancy practice but is
now owned by Australia’s
largest IFA firm, PIS.
Horwath managing director
David Bojan believes there is
a trend for expats to stay on
in Hong Kong after retirement
due to Asia’s increasingly
important role in the world
economy.
AuguST 2009 [www.international-adviser.com] INTERNATIONAL ADVISER 29
Jul ’09
HOrwatH’s tiPs FOr LOOKing FOr a FinanciaL adviser
Advisers should be qualified and experienced in providing the sort of services the client is looking for. They
should be someone the client feels personally comfortable in dealing with and whom they feel is trustworthy
and credible – they should consider them as a long-term business partner. Clients should expect to interview
more than one candidate. Before meeting with a prospect, they should gather all relevant financial data and
documentation and be prepared to discuss their personal financial profile at length.
Experience and qualifications:
n How long has the advisor been in practice?
n Does s/he have clients whose situation is similar to your own?
n Do they have an area of specialisation?
n Does the advisor have a recognised professional designation?
Services:
An adviser should be prepared to provide a description of these services in writing if the client requests it:
n What services does the advisor specifically render?
n Are they licensed to sell financial products, insurance or investments – stocks, bonds or mutual funds?
n On what range of financial issues do they offer planning advice?
n Will the client be working directly and primarily with this person or will an associate or subordinate be
assigned to their account?
certain to be the case.
Bojan illustrates the difficulties
IFAs face in competing
against such behemoths
as banks by describing
a recent visit to HSBC,
to open a bank account for
his eldest son.
“The woman who was
filling in the forms asked
me whether I had made
any provisions to pay for
my son’s education – obviously
she was angling to
sell me some sort of savings
plan. That is how it
works. And if I had been
someone else, that is probably
what I would have
ended up doing.”
Whatever happens with
respect to the proposed
commission disclosure regulations,
Bojan notes that
Hong Kong is already
one of the most tightly
regulated markets in Asia,
rivalled only by Singapore,
and that this works in
Hong Kong’s favour by
enabling it to attract business
from other countries
in the region.
l ‘Exciting place’
Like other advisers with
their fingers on the pulse
of US and UK expatriates,
Bojan says he senses that
more and more “seem to
be deciding to stay on in
Hong Kong, even past
retirement”, which he
attributes to a number of
factors, including a sense
of Asia’s growth prospects.
What is more, “Hong
Kong is an exciting place,
it is conveniently located,
taxes are fairly low and it is
easy to travel around the
region,” he explains. “Once
you have your accommodation
sorted out, you can
actually live quite cheaply.
“When you combine all
of those things together, it
is actually not a bad place
to be.”
“
Hong Kong is an
exciting place, it is
conveniently located,
taxes are fairly low
and it is easy to travel
around the region
”
David bojan, managing director,
Horwath financial Services
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