Deyu Family Office
Deyu may still be young in global terms but it was one of the earliest multi-family offices established in China. The MFO was founded over four years ago by Zhang Yong, a senior banker who had previously helped to set up the private banking department at China Minsheng Bank.
It has 40 family clients with at least Rmb2 billion ($280 million) in assets, and more than 160 high net-worth clients with assets over Rmb100 million. These include some of China’s wealthiest people: the richest client has overall assets of about Rmb80 billion.
Deyu has a team of 25, making it one of the largest MFOs in mainland China. It already represents clients across Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong and New York, and plans to open a Shenzhen office this year.
In 2019 alone, Deyu advised close to 100 clients with over Rmb1 billion in wealth planning and product allocation, across fixed income, equity and alternative assets.
It started offering funds of funds last year. Deyu also advised five clients on investment banking in Rmb3 billion worth of transactions. It provided tax services to 10 clients. Together with its Hong Kong and New York offices, Deyu was able to help tens of families in global asset allocation, education, offshore trust and overseas insurance.
Last year, Deyu helped families make wealth succession plans relating to Rmb100 billion of their assets. The clients Deyu assisted in family business governance included two businessmen that were the wealthiest in their respective provinces.
The words used by clients to describe Deyu were professional, warm and family-like, according to appraisals seen by Asiamoney.
Appreciation of the MFO is reflected in the fact that over 90% of the clients who consulted with Deyu chose to extend their contracts. In the meantime, no one has chosen to withdraw business at the firm, while some families even asked for a life-long contract.
In a relatively new – and therefore underdeveloped – segment of the vast Chinese wealth management market, Deyu has set an admirable example of what MFOs can and should be.