Super-rich families in Asia, Latin America and the Middle East could be major targets for Bermuda’s wealth management industry, one of the organisers of a major conference next month said yesterday.

Jonathan Dunlop, chairman of the Bermuda branch of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP) said: “The smaller structures are becoming less viable, so the industry will be more focused on individual families with a lot of wealth and they are looking for premier jurisdictions with excellent reputations to centralise the family’s assets.”

Mr Dunlop said that both Asia and the Middle East were potential markets for Island expertise in managing the huge assets of the very rich.

Mr Dunlop added that wealthy families in Asia traditionally tended to prefer to put their money into Hong Kong and Singapore.

But he said: “As a way of diversifying risk, they could put money into Bermuda and Latin American countries are also a potential area of growth.”

Mr Dunlop was speaking as he announced the annual STEP conference, to be held at the Fairmont Hamilton Princess on Thursday, February 27.

The theme for this year’s conference is sustainable development in the industry and is expected to attract around 130 professionals and will feature guest speakers from overseas.

Mr Dunlop said: “The point is it’s keeping people up to speed on changes in the industry.

“We’ve chosen a theme of sustainable growth for Bermuda because in a lot of ways the offshore trust industry is contracting.

“There has been a lot of pressure in the onshore jurisdictions to make offshore trusts less attractive.

“The risk is that there are countries that have got into a lot of trouble because they have been doing offshore trusts improperly — but there are lots of legitimate reasons to have trusts offshore.”

He added: “Bermuda has a very strong reputation among the global international financial centres — we have the Bermuda Monetary Authority, which monitors trusts, and very good service providers here.

“Part of this conference is about how we network that and get that recognised.”

Mr Dunlop said there were an estimated 600 jobs in Bermuda supported by trust management, with STEP having more than 250 members in Bermuda and 18,500 around the world.

Registration for the conference, which will be opened by Governor George Fergusson and will feature guest speakers from the UK and US, starts at 8am and the conference will run to 5.30pm, to be followed by a cocktail reception.

STEP also runs monthly professional talks for members and supports student members studying for the STEP International Trust Management diploma and advises the Bermuda Government on trust legislation.

More information at www.stepbermuda.org.