A family office in Vietnam has, until now, been a contradiction in terms. Domestic wealth has grown faster than almost anywhere in Asia, yet the vehicles to manage it professionally sat in Singapore, Hong Kong or Zurich. The international financial centre changes the arithmetic, and the funds and asset management priority sector in Decree 323/2025/ND-CP is broad enough to accommodate exactly this business.
Why a Vietnamese family office now makes sense
Three shifts converge. First generation founders are reaching succession age, and the businesses they built are being partly monetised through the M&A and listing activity described in our M&A consulting guide. That converts operating wealth into financial wealth needing management.
Second, the centre supplies the missing infrastructure – licensed managers, custody, professional services and a distinct foreign exchange regime – inside one perimeter. Third, the cost of running a family office in Ho Chi Minh City or Da Nang is a fraction of the Singapore equivalent, and the professionals who would staff it increasingly want to be based in Vietnam rather than commuting to it.
What a family office in the centre can do
Four functions typically anchor the mandate. Consolidated reporting across operating businesses, listed holdings, real estate and offshore assets – the discipline most Vietnamese families currently lack entirely. Investment management, either directly or by allocating to external managers. Succession and governance, including shareholder agreements, family constitutions and the mechanics of transferring control across generations. And risk management: insurance, currency exposure and the concentration risk that comes from wealth still tied to one operating company.
Family office structuring across borders
Most Vietnamese families of scale already hold assets in several jurisdictions, often assembled opportunistically rather than by design. A family office established inside the centre gives them a coordinating entity that is onshore, licensed and tax-transparent to the Vietnamese authorities, while continuing to hold offshore assets through existing structures.
The planning questions are the familiar ones: where decisions are taken, where substance sits, how distributions flow and what the position is under Vietnamese tax and the outbound rules in our outbound investment guide. The advantage of doing this now is that structures built before a succession event are far cheaper and less contentious than those assembled after one.
Family office FAQs
What size of wealth justifies one?
Below a certain scale a family office is an expensive way to buy services available from private banks. The threshold in Vietnam is lower than in Singapore because staffing costs less, but the honest test is complexity – multiple operating businesses, several jurisdictions and more than one generation involved – rather than a headline number.
Does the centre offer a specific licence?
Family office activity fits within the funds and asset management priority category, and the route runs through the centre’s membership process described in our membership guide, with the tax analysis in our tax incentives guide.
Can foreign families use it?
Yes. Regional families with substantial Vietnamese business interests are a natural early cohort, and the employment facilitation in our work permit guide makes staffing feasible. The wider framework is set out in our international financial centre overview, and texts are published via the Ministry of Finance.
Governance is what makes a family office last
The technical structure is the easy part. What determines whether a family office survives the second generation is governance: who decides, how disagreements are resolved and what happens when a family member wants liquidity the portfolio cannot easily provide.
Three documents carry most of that weight. A family constitution setting out values, roles and the process for admitting or exiting members – not legally binding in itself but the reference point when tempers rise. Shareholder or partnership agreements giving the constitution legal effect where it matters, particularly on transfer restrictions, valuation mechanics and deadlock. And an investment policy statement that constrains the office from drifting into whatever the loudest family member favours this year.
Vietnamese families building this now have an advantage over those who left it until a succession event forced the conversation. Documents negotiated while the founder is active and the business is performing are far cheaper, calmer and more durable than the same documents negotiated in the shadow of illness or a sale.
This article is provided for general information only and does not constitute legal advice for any specific case. Regulations may change – please consult a qualified professional before acting. Should further analysis be required, please contact one of our lawyers below.
