OCT
16
2025
Navigating Trends in Private Wealth Management
Description
Title: Impact Investing Guidelines for Trustees
Abstract: Trustees are increasingly expected to align investment strategies with broader social and environmental objectives. However, they face significant legal constraints when incorporating Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) considerations alongside fiduciary duties. This paper examines the legal framework that governs trustees' ESG investment decisions under the Trustee Act of 2000 and key case law. The analysis explores the tension between the traditional duty to maximize financial returns and the growing pressure to consider ESG factors. Key themes include clarifying trustee responsibilities under the prudent investor rule, distinguishing between private express trusts and charitable trusts when approaching non-financial investment criteria, and managing liability risks for unauthorized investments.
Professor Dr Alexandra Butterstein, LL.M. is a Professor of Law and holds the Chair for Company, Foundation and Trust Law at the University of Liechtenstein. As of 2023, Alexandra Butterstein has served as Dean of the Liechtenstein Business Law School and has been a member of the University of Liechtenstein's Rectorate since 2022. She is the Academic Director of study programmes in fiduciary law and compliance as well as Program Director (together with Professor Dr Francesco A. Schurr) of the Master of Laws (LL.M.) in Company, Foundation and Trust Law. Moreover, Alexandra Butterstein is admitted to the bar in Germany. In her research, teaching and consulting activities, Alexandra Butterstein has focused on contemporary issues of corporate, company, foundation and trust law with an international perspective.
Title: Current developments in the International Tax Landscape for UHNWI, Family Offices and Philanthropy
Abstract: The International Tax Landscape for Ultra-High-Net-Worth Individuals (UHNWI), Family Offices and Philanthropy is determined by the dynamic as well as fragmented International Level Playing Field of Taxation including national and international tax laws and international tax standards. Together with Multinational Enterprises, UHNWI including their Family Offices, Private and Charitable Wealth Structures (trusts, private and charitable foundations) are more and more in the forefront of the Global Tax Agenda like certain attractive Investment, Wealth and Philanthropy Hubs. Several small and highly developed jurisdictions in Asia-Pacific, Europe and the Middle East actively attract mobile UHNWI with tax benefits through their Golden Visa, Family Office, Private and Charitable Wealth Structure, Citizenship and Residence by Investment Programs and their lump sum, remittance base, territorial and low- or no tax systems and exemptions and thereby actively apply their fiscal sovereignty and boost international tax competition. In contrast, high-tax countries rather restrict the mobility of UHNWI through the uni-, bi- and multilateral introduction of various lock-in, mobility and transaction taxes and address potentially harmful tax practices without a significant economic presence in other jurisdictions. In addition, these countries discuss alternative nexuses to safeguard and protect existing and to establish new taxing rights and support the idea of a Global Minimum Wealth Tax of 2% (GloWT) in order to reduce inequality and to curb international tax competition. The proposed GloWT addresses the potential failure in the progressive taxation of income and (unrealized) capital gains and is regarded as a comprehensive backstop and as an alternative to a presumptive income tax or an income tax with a broad notion of income.
The growing tension between tax sovereignty and equity as well as the various fiscal measures and nexuses to establish and allocate taxing rights on income and wealth of UHNWI to boost versus curb international tax competition have a significant influence on the future taxation of UHNWI including their Family Offices and philanthropic activities with Private and Charitable Wealth Structures and bear the risk of both another race to the bottom and of growing fiscal restrictions for globally mobile UHNWI. Highly attractive and developed Investment, Wealth and Philanthropy Hubs, like Singapore and others, could reflect the opportunity to balance out and align the attractiveness of their programs with the requirements of other jurisdictions and international standards in order to be able to address the needs of UHNWI sustainably.
Professor Dr Martin Wenz is a Professor of National and International Tax Law and holds the Chair for Business Taxation and the Laws of International and Liechtenstein Taxation at the University of Liechtenstein. His main research interests are the international tax architecture and the re-design of tax systems, international tax standards and the international level-playing-field on taxation, the international tax treatment of individuals (UHNWI), companies, complex private and charitable wealth structures and the various aspects of Liechtenstein tax law. Professor Wenz gives also comprehensive advice to the Liechtenstein Government on national and international tax law including Double Tax Agreements and on the Implementation of International Tax Standards including Pillar 2 (GloBE).
Title: Artificial intelligence and trust administration – Risks and opportunities from a comparative perspective
Abstract: The integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) into trust administration is reshaping traditional fiduciary practices. The use of AI offers both unprecedented opportunities and significant challenges. Furthermore, AI can enhance efficiency, accuracy, and transparency in areas such as asset management, compliance monitoring, beneficiary communication, and risk assessment. By automating routine processes, AI enables trustees to focus on higher-value advisory functions while improving service delivery for beneficiaries. It goes without saying that there are various risks linked to the usage of AI, such as data privacy and algorithmic bias. Thus, a careful governance framework seems to be essential. Moreover, the inherently relational and ethical dimensions of trust administration raise questions about the extent to which AI can supplement the human judgment central to fiduciary responsibility.
Professor Dr Francesco A Schurr is a Professor of Law (Chair for Italian Private Law and Comparartive Law) at the School of Law of the University of Innsbruck/Austria. Furthermore he is a Visiting Professor at the School of Law of the University of Padova/Italy as well as Visiting Professor and Co-Director of the Master of Laws (LL.M.) in Company, Foundation and Trust Law at the School of Business Law at the University of Liechtenstein. Francesco’s main research interests are the Law of Trusts and Foundations, Corporate Law as well as Contracts and Consumer Protection. He is admitted to the bar in Italy and Germany. Francesco is also serving as Judge at The Court for Trusts and Fiduciary Relations of the Republic of San Marino.
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Date and Time
Thursday, 16th October 2025 3:30PM GMT+08:00
to
Thursday, 16th October 2025 6:00PM GMT+08:00
Organisation
Faculty of Law
Contact Email
cbfl@nus.edu.sg
Location
Lee Sheridan Conference Room, NUS Law Bukit Timah Campus, 469G Bukit Timah Rd