The SWU Group was proudly awarded the HK Success Story at the 16th Hong Kong Forum in December 2015. The group’s representative Jonathan Wu (Associate Director – Financial Adviser & Head of Group Operations) was present at the ceremony in Hong Kong.
The background to the HK Success Story Awarded by the HKTDC (Hong Kong Trade Development Council – A quasi HK SAR Government Organisation) is as follows:
• The award is to recognise the outstanding achievements of the members associates of the Federation who have developed their business significantly through Hong Kong
• All individuals members belonging to the associations or chapters of the Federation are welcome to enter the competition
• There are 40 Hong Kong Business Associations in 29 countries and regions with over 11,000 individual associates globally with the Federation of Hong Kong Business Associations Worldwide
• The winner should be able to demonstrate the strength of the Hong Kong connection story ( for example, using HK for business expansion to China, Asia, or other overseas markets; setting up an office in HK; outsourcing to or partnering with a manufacturer/ service provider in HK etc)
• Awards committee is composed by professionals and business leaders from around the world: http://www.hkfederation.org.hk/about/executive4.asp
The SWU Group was originally founded by Mr. Simon Wu who was born and brought up in Hong Kong. The origins of the group dates back to 1983 as a public practice accounting firm. From there it continued to grow to service the Chinese community and in 1993 the financial advice (incorporating insurance) division was born. At this point in time, the financial advice industry was still in its infancy and Simon wanted to focus on helping local Chinese people secure their financial future. Today it looks after over $200M AUD in assets on behalf of clients – being the largest Full Service Chinese Accounting and
Financial Advice firm in Australia. Further to this, The Estate Planning arm was created in 2013 in order to fulfill a need to look after existing client’s wishes beyond this life, to ensure the safe transfer of intergenerational wealth for the children. In 2014, the final arm to the business was incepted being credit advice (incorporating all forms of lending).
The ultimate goal of the SWU Group is to service all the financial needs of a family. From accounting, financial planning, estate planning and credit advisory. This is known as a multi-family office. The group never believes a client interaction is about the transaction, but about the relationship. Any transaction is subsequent to building the trust of the client. Our Client Value Proposition is as follows:
“The SWU Group is a boutique multi-family office focused on a co-investment and co-strategy model to achieve financial success for busy families to ensure wealth preservation for multiple generations. We are here to provide stewardship with regards to all aspects of your financial life and well-being.”
Our uniqueness lies in the co-investment and co-strategy model where if we believe its good enough for our family, then only we would recommend to our clients. Further to this, the two principals of the business are father and son – Simon and Jonathan Wu which ensures continuity in managing the intergenerational transfer of wealth as the need arises.
Over the last 3 decades, Simon has written 4 books focused on educating the Chinese community in Australia the value of financial advice, tax planning and retirement strategies. We see all these strategies as “get rich slow” methods to financial advice.
Continuing on from the tradition of educating the public for the good of all, Simon and more recently Jonathan host 2 weekly radio programs on 2CR in Sydney. Simon has been writing in Chinese newspapers for over 30 years also focused on empowering the Chinese community in their personal finances.
In 2013, TVB Australia approached Simon to start a television show focused on educating the Chinese community about financial planning and investment opportunities. In 2014, the show now known as “Money and You” was born – a weekly 15min show focused on breaking down the complex world of finance into ways the regular person would understand. A third season to air in 2016 has been scheduled.
In an extension of the SWU Group, a separate asset management business was formed in 2005 by Simon and Jonathan called Premium China Funds Management (PCFM) focused on bringing best of breed Asian Investment Opportunities into Australia. This business is a joint venture with Asia’s premier boutique fund manager Value Partners Group. PCFM to date operates the largest China equities fund in Australia and the business has a combined Assets Under Management Total in excess of $300M AUD.
Jonathan and his team also published a book back in 2010 entitled “Asia: The New Investment Paradigm” which has had over 25,000 copies distributed in its 4 editions in the last 5 years. This book is focused on educating the Australian investment community about the future of Asia.
