JOHOR BAHRU, July 3 – Forest City’s family office push has moved past paper approvals, with Maybank-assisted early single family offices (SFOs) now operating and holding more than RM700 million (S$219.3 million) in assets under management, according to Malaysia’s largest lender Maybank.
The bigger challenge now is whether a former ghost-town property project can turn early registrations into a large-scale functioning wealth-management ecosystem anchored by capital deployment, professional services and a meaningful on-the-ground presence.
According to Maybank’s Malaysia head of wealth management, Lim Eng Ping, these elements are still building up as many families take a phased approach to implementation.
“We are seeing strong traction from families, particularly domestic ones, exploring the JS-SEZ (Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone) SFO scheme as part of a broader wealth structuring strategy,” Lim told The Business Times.
The bank has to date supported the establishment of nine SFOs under the JS-SEZ SFO scheme and Forest City Special Financial Zone incentive package.
Even so, it remains unclear whether Forest City has met, or is on track to meet, its RM2 billion AUM target by the end of 2026.
The latest industry-wide data from the Securities Commission showed that nine family offices had received conditional approvals under the scheme, representing nearly RM670 million in indicative AUM as at April 2026.
Anusha Santhirasthipam, founder and CEO of corporate advisory firm Akshiya Global Ventures, told BT that the RM2 billion target could prove challenging, citing geopolitical headwinds, supply chain pressures around the Strait of Hormuz, currency volatility and shifting global alignments.
These factors have led family offices and limited partners from Europe, the Gulf and North America to phase commitments more cautiously, she said. – The Business Times
