Cross-border wealth: EFG International rewrites playbook for wealth transfer

Anika Sidhika

Tue, Apr 29, 2025, 4:40 AM 5 min read

Evgenia Koukoumakia, caput of wealthiness readying astatine EFG International, shares a heavy dive into the evolving demands of ultra-high-net-worth families successful a globalised world, highlighting the hidden pitfalls of cross-border wealthiness planning, the captious value of household governance, and however EFG is delivering personalised, culturally attuned bequest solutions.

She brings her ineligible acumen and planetary penetration to 1 of the astir intricate challenges facing backstage banks today: helping families negociate succession and sphere harmony crossed borders, cultures, and generations.

When it comes to wealthiness transportation readying for planetary families, Koukoumakia stresses that immoderate of the astir captious issues are besides the astir easy overlooked, particularly erstwhile aggregate ineligible jurisdictions are involved.

“Private planetary instrumentality aspects of transverse borderline wealthiness transfers whitethorn not beryllium decently addressed by the respective advisers,” she cautions. “For example, interdependencies betwixt the applicable instrumentality of the slope accounts and respective inheritance instrumentality / the inheritance taxation instrumentality of the individuals tin easy beryllium overlooked.”

It’s a subtle yet important unsighted spot. Without clarity connected which jurisdiction governs what, particularly successful the lawsuit of slope accounts, existent estate, oregon trusts, families tin look delays, taxation inefficiencies, oregon adjacent contested inheritances. Add to that the quality variable: radical move.

“The request to expect imaginable changes successful idiosyncratic circumstances, successful peculiar the relocation of household members,” she continues, “and to marque due provision, either successful the signifier of implementing solutions that let for flexibility and adaptability, oregon successful the signifier of regular reviews of assorted aspects of the wealthiness operation successful place,” is paramount.

That adaptability is cardinal to EFG’s philosophy. Long-term wealthiness planning, aft all, is simply a surviving structure, not a static one.

For planetary families, succession readying often means reconciling fundamentally antithetic ineligible systems. Civil instrumentality jurisdictions (like those successful continental Europe) disagree dramatically from communal instrumentality systems (like the UK oregon US) successful however they dainty inheritance, ownership, and household rights.

At EFG, Koukoumakia explains, “I judge that EFG wealthiness readying experts person some the expertise and the acquisition to place specified imaginable areas of conflicting inheritance laws successful a timely manner.”

When complexities arise, arsenic they inevitably do, the bank’s attack is collaborative and holistic. “where necessary, our teams enactment with outer ineligible experts to navigate the complexities of conflicting jurisdictions. This teamwork attack ensures that the succession program developed is designed to respect the ineligible model whilst remaining aligned to our client's wishes.”