Hong Kong, home to many successful business empires and the long-established international financial centre on China's doorstep, is regarded by the rapidly growing mainland high-net-worth community as the preferred location to operate and manage their wealth.

"Mainland clients often choose to work with institutions based in Hong Kong, which has a strongly established trust and fund management industry and familiar cultural and language environment. There is a natural synergy between Hong Kong and the mainland," said Michael Olesnicky, head of Baker & McKenzie's tax group in China and Hong Kong. The firm's list of mainland private clients is expanding in line with the country's high-speed wealth creation.

Hong Kong's proven popularity among the mainland high-net-worth community has created new business opportunities for local Hong Kong firms too. Francis Chan of ONC Lawyers has found his putonghua is improving by the day, as the number of enquiries and instructions from mainland clients grows.

"There is strong and increasing demand from PRC clients. In fact, the reason that we started our wealth management practice some four years ago was a direct result of such demand," said Chan, who leads the firm's trust and wealth management team of three lawyers. For now, most of these clients are just setting up relatively simple family trusts, but Chan is sure that more sophisticated trust structures will be adopted as time passes.

"Generally, PRC clients are less familiar with tools used in wealth management - trusts and foundations - so we need to spend quite some time to explain these ideas to them. They are also very concerned with the trustworthiness of the trustees and how the trustees can keep such arrangements confidential," he said.

For many domestic law firms that have already developed strong relationships with entrepreneurs and founders of successful businesses, gaining the know-how, expertise and the market connections becomes a high priority in servicing their clients' need. Dacheng is among the first batch of domestic firms to set up a wealth management and family office practice, and it has done so through its new Hong Kong office.

"The population of exceptionally wealthy businessmen is rapidly growing in China and they want to preserve their wealth and pass it down to future generations. To ensure the long-term preservation of their wealth, they need professional advisors to help form a clear strategy and proper structure," said Yang Jinzhu, managing partner of Dacheng's Hong Kong office. "Hong Kong is a strategic location for us to develop this practice, because it not only gathers the world's top wealth management institutions and professionals but also has a strong reputation and rich history of producing the most successful businesses in the region." ALB