Cross-border wealth planning increasingly requires coordinated advisory frameworks from inception as regulatory and tax reporting pressures intensify worldwide, according to Joy Lahoud, Managing Director, UAE at Cone Marshall Group. Speaking during an 'In The Hubbis Hot Seat' session at the Hubbis Wealth Planning & Structuring Forum – Dubai 2026, Lahoud outlined the operational and governance complexities facing international families.
Lahoud observed that a family's wealth structures frequently reside in one jurisdiction while underlying operating businesses, bank accounts, and beneficiaries are dispersed across several others. Each touchpoint—including residency, commercial operations, and asset holdings—engages distinct legal and regulatory regimes that cannot be treated in isolation.
According to Lahoud, the criteria families use to select jurisdictions and design structures have fundamentally shifted. Historical planning priorities frequently focused on maintaining privacy and maximizing founder control. Today, Lahoud stated, the central requirement is ensuring that structures can withstand inspection from tax and regulatory authorities under international transparency frameworks such as the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) alongside the UAE's corporate tax regime.
To manage these cross-border obligations, Lahoud stressed that fiduciaries must actively align various professional stakeholders, including banking partners, legal counsel, and tax specialists. In addition, he emphasized the critical need for meticulous drafting of foundation constitutional documents, such as charters and bylaws, to support intended governance and minimize potential internal disputes.
Sources
- Hubbis · 2026-10-19
