For high net worth (HNW) families in Asia, insurance-based wealth solutions are increasingly being discussed less as standalone products and more as long-term planning structures. The drivers are familiar but intensifying: international assets, family mobility, rising transparency, tax reporting, succession pressure, geo-political tension and the need for structures that can remain relevant across jurisdictions and generations.

Mark Christal, Head of Asia at Utmost International Isle of Man Limited (“Utmost”), says this is where specialist solutions such as Private Placement Life Insurance (PPLI) and Variable Universal Life (VUL) can play a more strategic role. Utmost has just under £120 billion in assets under administration as at 31 December 2025 and is a specialist provider of insurance-based wealth solutions.

For Mark, the issue is not simply whether clients need more insurance. It is whether advisers are helping them create structures that are portable, flexible, tax-aware and fit for the next stage of the family’s wealth journey.

Key Takeaways


Increasing complexity is driving demand: International assets, family mobility, transparency, tax reporting, geo-political tension and cross-border planning are making long-term wealth structures more relevant for HNW and UHNW families.
PPLI and VUL remain underpenetrated: Adoption of more specialist insurance structures in Asia still evolving, despite growing client awareness and adviser interest.
Advisers need to move beyond product familiarity: Private banks, EAMs, family offices and brokers should understand the broader range of insurance-based solutions available, or risk losing the planning conversation.
Portability remains central: Families moving between jurisdictions, or with beneficiaries relocating overseas, may need structures that can travel with the family over time. Avoid planning in isolation or with a single jurisdiction in mind.
The next generation is a major catalyst: Wealth transfer, succession and beneficiary planning are making long-term insurance structures more relevant across Asia.
Complexity in the execution of these structures is often overstated: Mark says complexity is often a misconception, although advisers need enough knowledge to guide clients through the process properly.
Wealth planning should be treated as a strategy: Insurance is one component within a broader wealth plan, not the plan itself.

 

Increasing Complexity and the Search for Future-Fit Structures

Mark sees change and complexity as the central theme shaping the needs of wealthy families in Asia, and where the pace of change driving increasing complexity has accelerating more quickly than perhaps expected. Clients may have assets in several jurisdictions, children studying or settling overseas, changing residency profiles, and increased reporting obligations. Structures that worked 10 or 20 years ago may no longer be adequate.

“The key question is whether the structures clients have had in place for the last 20 years are still fit for purpose today,” he says.

For advisers, this creates both a responsibility and an opportunity. A discussion around PPLI or VUL is not merely a product conversation. It is a way to reopen the broader wealth planning discussion and assess whether the family has a structure that can support succession, mobility, reporting and control over the long term.

This is particularly important for private banks, EAMs and family offices. A well-designed structure can help advisers retain the client relationship, retain assets and maintain continuity as wealth moves from one generation to the next.

Market Development in Hong Kong and Singapore

Mark believes the HNW insurance market in Asia has substantial long-term growth potential, with providers aligning resources around the region’s expanding private wealth base. Hong Kong and Singapore as leading cross-border wealth hubs are key jurisdictions, each with different product dynamics and regulatory considerations.

Hong Kong, he says, is still heavily dominated by savings products. In more mature markets, he would expect to see a broader range of solutions. Singapore is more varied, but with Indexed Universal Life more prominent. Some Singapore-based clients may still access Hong Kong or Bermuda solutions depending on their needs.

Within this wider market, PPLI and VUL remain relatively underpenetrated. That is beginning to change as clients become more informed. Mark says some HNW  clients are now researching these structures themselves, including through AI and other online tools, before raising the topic with their advisers.

“If you are not talking to your client about different solutions in the market, someone else will be,” he says.

The adviser challenge is therefore partly educational. Clients may already be aware that these structures exist. The question is whether their advisers can explain when they are useful, when they are not, and how they fit into a broader wealth planning strategy.

Moving Beyond the Perception of Complexity

One barrier to wider adoption is the perception that PPLI and VUL are inherently complex to execute. Mark says that perception is not always accurate.

“They do not have to be complex arrangements,” he says.

 

“There can be more complex planning structures, particularly where there is an existing structure that needs to be accommodated, but generally speaking they do not have to be.”

 

The issue is often adviser familiarity. Some advisers may avoid the topic because they are less comfortable with the solutions, the process takes longer, or the client needs more explanation. But Mark argues that this is precisely why the market needs more education. These are long-term wealth planning solutions, not short-cycle product decisions.

That distinction matters. A product-led conversation can become narrow very quickly. A planning-led conversation begins with the client’s needs, the family’s assets, the location of beneficiaries, future mobility, tax exposure, probate considerations and reporting requirements. Only then should the adviser decide which structure, if any, is appropriate and such discussions should also recognise that all these elements can evolve over time, so solutions that can adapt to change are key.

Portability, Tax and Intergenerational Planning

Portability solutions underpinned by leading technical support has long been one of the key reasons clients choose Utmost. Mark says Utmost presence in the region dates back to 1991, with early demand often linked to UK expatriates returning home and seeking tax-efficient portfolio bond solutions.

Today, the same portability issue applies more broadly. Asian HNW and UHNW families may not always be moving themselves, but their children or grandchildren often are. Australia is one example, particularly where families are moving from a more benign tax environment into a higher-tax jurisdiction.

Mark gives the example of a Taiwanese family whose children or grandchildren are relocating to Australia. A PPLI or VUL policy may allow assets to be placed into a structure that can grow over time and potentially be gifted via assignment to the next generation when they are resident in Australia.

The purpose is not tax alone. Mark is clear that tax should not be the only driver. Probate avoidance, legitimate confidentiality, simplified reporting, asset consolidation, succession and long-term control may all form part of the rationale.

 

“Tax planning is not the overriding driver,” he says. “It’s important to consider multiple needs over time.”

 

That broader framing is important. Strong planning cases are rarely built around a single benefit. They are built around multiple objectives that hold together over the long term.

Why Advisers Need to Upskill

Utmost distributes on a B2B basis, working with international HNW brokers, financial advisers, IFAs and the broader HNW advisory channel. In Singapore and Southeast Asia, Mark sees particular relevance for family offices, multi-family offices, EAMs and private bankers who have touchpoints with wealthy families but may not yet be fully familiar with the specialist insurance toolkit.

Some of their clients may already be asking about these solutions. Others may not know the terminology, but they are dealing with the underlying issues: succession, mobility, asset consolidation, tax reporting, cross-border beneficiaries and long-term family governance.

For Mark, that is why the conversation needs to start at the level of strategy, rather than product selection.

“Wealth planning is a strategy,” he says. “It is not about a specific product or a one-size-fits-all solution. It should be a holistic long-term strategy, where you can plug and play different solutions to meet those evolving needs and insurance-based wealth solutions can act as the central framework.”

That is also where PPLI and VUL are likely to gain ground. As Asia’s private wealth market matures, clients are likely to expect broader planning capability from the advisers around them. Product knowledge alone will not be enough. Advisers will need to understand which structures can help clients maintain flexibility, protect continuity and prepare for the transfer of wealth across borders and generations.

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Mark is speaking at our upcoming Hubbis HNW INSURANCE SUMMIT – SINGAPORE 2026, taking place on Wednesday 26th August, from 9.00am to 4.00pm at the Conrad Singapore Marina Bay, Singapore, which Utmost is also partnering.

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