Asian family office sets up in Melbourne

Vantage Family Office is expanding into Australia by launching a capital markets business to serve high-net-worth individuals and institutions.

The Asian-based multi-family office platform has set up Vector Capital Management, which will be led by veteran investment professional William Fong.

Fong said the firm will operate both as an asset manager and investment banker in Australia building on its regional network of family office clients and shifting its focus to corporations and institutions.

The Vector general manager has over 20 years in investment and treasury management throughout the region, where he held leadership roles at HSBC, Citibank, Deutsche Bank, and Westpac.

Outside investment banking, Fong has worked in asset management across all asset classes, including fixed income at Pitcher Partners and as head of digital asset trading at Bitbuy and Zerocap, both based in Melbourne.

He also did a two-year stint running capital markets advisory at EY.

Fong said the potential for growth lies in bridging the gap between family offices and institutional clients, between digital assets and traditional finance.

He sees second and third-generation high-net-worth clients who want to do more with their wealth than invest in bonds, equities, and property.

The focus on capital markets will enable the new firm to offer a wider range of investment options such as tokenised RWA, DeFi, and stablecoin usage.

Regarding the recent trend of investment professionals moving from pension funds to boutiques and family offices, Fong noted that this migration has been common for over a decade in most markets.

"Australian superannuation funds have been growing their headcount over that time, coming into 2024, when that growth began to slow down," he said.

The country head said the firm will likely expand in both business development, tech development and operations. But headcount needs further planning in the second half of the year to be certain.