Privacy protection
Who can see what you own, in which register, and on whose authority. Privacy is not secrecy — it is the difference between disclosure to a regulator and disclosure to the world.
View the structure
Wealth structuring · PPLI · Liquidity planning
Structures built to outlast cycles.
Independent advisory for cross-border principals. We design wealth planning structures for families whose affairs sit across more than one legal system.
Typically USD 10m+ in liquid assets, tax exposure in two or more jurisdictions.
USD 2bn+
In PPLI structured at group level by Alpina Legacy and its related entities
34
Jurisdictions in which we hold intermediation licences
6
Locations across Europe, Asia and the Americas
Wealth planning is about solutions, not financial products.
Most intermediaries begin with a product and look for a client to fit it. We begin with the problem — where you are tax resident, what your family will face, and what has to remain true in twenty years — and build the solution the answer requires.
Asset protection
For entrepreneurs active in litigious countries who want their private wealth kept separate from the risks their business carries — so that a claim against the company does not become a claim against the family.
View the structureTax protection
Tax efficiency pursued exclusively within a fully compliant framework. Every structure is designed to be declared and reported in each jurisdiction that will examine it — no ambiguity at inception, and no retrospective exposure.
View the structureProbate protection
Estates rarely fail for want of assets. They fail for want of liquidity at the moment the tax falls due — and for want of a route around probate in three jurisdictions at once.
View the structure
The answer
Four concerns. Five C's.
Every serious question a principal or their counsel raises about a cross-border structure reduces to one of four. The answer comes in five parts.
Counterparty
The structure is issued by a licensed financial institution, regulated and supervised in its own domicile. Your counterparty is an institution with a balance sheet and a regulator — not an arrangement.
Contract
A contract that gives clarity and certainty: what is owned, by whom, on what terms, and what happens on death. Enforceable, and not dependent on anyone's later interpretation.
Compliance
Structures are designed to satisfy the legal, regulatory and reporting requirements of the jurisdictions in which they are established and held, and to be declared to them. Treatment in any individual case depends on the client's own circumstances and is confirmed with their own tax counsel.
Control
Retained where the law permits and relinquished where it does not, subject to local tax and regulatory restrictions. What you may and may not direct is defined at the outset, not discovered later.
Cash
Liquidity available when your family or business needs it most. Facilities of up to USD 250m to cover open liabilities — tax falling due, business requirements, ongoing maintenance costs — at the moment they arise rather than after assets have been sold to meet them.
Who we advise
Four situations, recurring.
- Founders approaching a liquidity event
- US-connected investors with assets outside the United States
- Families whose members hold three passports and file in two systems
- Principals who have relocated, or are about to
We are not a fit for domestic-only estates, for portfolios below roughly USD 10m in liquid assets, or for anyone seeking a product recommendation rather than a structure.
Method
How an engagement runs.
Five stages, in this order. The first is always tax residency; the last is always your own counsel. Nothing between them begins with a product.
Insights
Read all insights
Written for legal and tax professionals.
We assume the reader knows what a CFC is.
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International presence
Six locations. Three continents.
Cross-border structuring requires people in the jurisdictions concerned. Each is staffed by advisors licensed and resident in the market they serve.
Request a structuring review.
Describe your situation in outline. A partner will assess structural suitability and reply within two business days — or tell you plainly that we are not the right firm.
Approach
We focus on your needs and not a product.
Most intermediaries begin with a carrier illustration. We begin with where you are tax resident, where you are deemed resident, and where those two answers disagree.
Independence
We are paid by carriers. We tell you so.
Alpina Legacy receives remuneration from the issuing carrier as intermediary commission, disclosed to you in accordance with applicable regulation. Where an introduction fee or revenue-sharing arrangement exists with an introducing advisor, it is agreed in writing before any client contact.
We do not operate undisclosed arrangements. All co-advisory fee structures are subject to the anti-inducement and conflict-of-interest rules applicable in each jurisdiction, including MiFID II equivalents, the Insurance Distribution Directive, the SFC Code of Conduct and the Insurance Ordinance (Cap. 41).
Method
How an engagement runs.
01
Structural analysis
Where you are tax resident, where you are deemed resident, and where those two answers disagree.
02
Jurisdictional comparison
Singapore, Hong Kong, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Ireland, Cayman and others, compared against your profile rather than against our counterparty relationships.
03
Carrier and regulatory assessment
Solvency, custody arrangements, and recognition of the structure in every jurisdiction that will look at it.
04
Policy architecture
Investment governance, the investor-control boundary, and what you may and may not direct.
05
Ongoing compliance
Annual review, reporting obligations, and coordination with your own counsel. We do not replace your lawyers.
What we will not do
Compliance is not a constraint on the work. It is the work.
We are subject to anti-money-laundering, counter-terrorist-financing and information-exchange obligations in every jurisdiction in which we are licensed, including automatic exchange of information frameworks where applicable. We comply with lawful requests from regulators and courts of competent jurisdiction.
We will not represent otherwise. Any advisor who implies they can place you beyond these obligations is describing something we do not do.
Structures
Four concerns. One structure, differently configured.
Privacy, assets, tax, probate. Each is a distinct legal problem before it is a product question, and the configuration follows from the problem rather than from the shelf.
Privacy protection
Who can see what you own, in which register, and on whose authority. Privacy is not secrecy — it is the difference between disclosure to a regulator and disclosure to the world.
Relevant where beneficial-ownership registers are public, where a family's affairs attract attention, or where commercial counterparties should not see the whole picture.
Discuss this structureAsset protection
For entrepreneurs active in litigious countries who want their private wealth kept separate from the risks their business carries — so that a claim against the company does not become a claim against the family.
Relevant for principals with personal guarantees, directorships, or operating exposure in jurisdictions where litigation is a routine commercial instrument. Timing is the binding constraint: this is decided years before any claim is filed.
Discuss this structureTax protection
Tax efficiency pursued exclusively within a fully compliant framework. Every structure is designed to be declared and reported in each jurisdiction that will examine it — no ambiguity at inception, and no retrospective exposure.
Relevant before a change of residence, before a disposal, and wherever a US person sits inside a non-US family. Relocation, CFC exposure and the interaction between two tax codes never written to interact.
Discuss this structureProbate protection
Estates rarely fail for want of assets. They fail for want of liquidity at the moment the tax falls due — and for want of a route around probate in three jurisdictions at once.
Relevant where forced heirship meets common-law estate planning, or where an illiquid operating asset dominates the estate.
Discuss this structure
The answer
Four concerns. Five C's.
Every serious question a principal or their counsel raises about a cross-border structure reduces to one of four. The answer comes in five parts.
Counterparty
The structure is issued by a licensed financial institution, regulated and supervised in its own domicile. Your counterparty is an institution with a balance sheet and a regulator — not an arrangement.
Contract
A contract that gives clarity and certainty: what is owned, by whom, on what terms, and what happens on death. Enforceable, and not dependent on anyone's later interpretation.
Compliance
Structures are designed to satisfy the legal, regulatory and reporting requirements of the jurisdictions in which they are established and held, and to be declared to them. Treatment in any individual case depends on the client's own circumstances and is confirmed with their own tax counsel.
Control
Retained where the law permits and relinquished where it does not, subject to local tax and regulatory restrictions. What you may and may not direct is defined at the outset, not discovered later.
Cash
Liquidity available when your family or business needs it most. Facilities of up to USD 250m to cover open liabilities — tax falling due, business requirements, ongoing maintenance costs — at the moment they arise rather than after assets have been sold to meet them.
Domicile
Selection is driven by profile, not by panel.
We maintain relationships with counterparties across Singapore, Hong Kong, Mauritius, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, the Isle of Man, Ireland, the Cayman Islands, Barbados, the Bahamas, and the United States and its territories — which is what makes it possible to select a domicile on the merits rather than default to whichever carrier we happen to hold.
The right domicile is frequently not the one that scores highest on any single measure. It is the one that performs acceptably in every jurisdiction the family may end up touching.
Insights
Written for legal and tax professionals.
Technical analysis of cross-border structuring, published for the advisors who implement it. We assume the reader knows what a CFC is.
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Our analysis is written for professionals who implement it.
If you advise clients on cross-border estates, succession or pre-immigration matters, we publish for you. Request the full technical library.
International presence
Six locations. Three continents.
Cross-border structuring requires people in the jurisdictions concerned. Each is staffed by advisors licensed and resident in the market they serve.
Switzerland
Where the firm is grounded.
Zug is the Swiss base — FINMA-registered intermediation, and the regulatory culture that sets the standard for the rest of the network.
Switzerland · Principal office
Zug
Lettenstrasse 9
6343 Rotkreuz, Canton of Zug
6343 Rotkreuz, Canton of Zug
Switzerland · Representative office
Zürich
Gotthardstrasse 21
8002 Zürich
8002 Zürich
Europe · Asia · Americas
International presence.
France
Paris
91 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré
75008 Paris
75008 Paris
Hong Kong SAR
Hong Kong
17/F, 19–20 Connaught Road Central
Hong Kong
Hong Kong
United States
Miami
2000 S Dixie Highway, Suite 110
Miami, Florida
Miami, Florida
Cayman Islands
Grand Cayman
23 Lime Tree Bay Avenue
Grand Cayman
Grand Cayman
The firm
Private wealth is a people business.
Twenty-two advisors across six locations, operating in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Hebrew, Hindi, Tagalog, Mandarin and Cantonese.
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Regulatory standing
Registrations you can verify.
Alpina Legacy operates through licensed entities in each jurisdiction where it conducts insurance intermediation. Each registration can be confirmed directly with the regulator concerned.
| Jurisdiction | Regulator | Registration | Scope |
|---|---|---|---|
| Switzerland | FINMA | F01438999 | Insurance intermediary |
| France / EEA | ORIAS | 932052905 | Insurance intermediary |
| Hong Kong SAR | Insurance Authority | GB1100 | Licensed insurance broker company — Alpina Legacy (HK) Limited |
| United States | Florida — Department of Financial Services | L129794 | Licensed insurance intermediary |
Intermediation licences are held across 34 jurisdictions. The full register of entities and registrations is available on request.
Contact
Request an introduction.
Your enquiry is read by a partner, not by a client-relations team. We reply within two business days — including when our answer is that we are not the right firm.
Before you tell us anything. If you would prefer to execute a mutual non-disclosure agreement before describing your circumstances, request our standard form and we will return it signed within one business day.
Enquiries from professional introducers — lawyers, trustees, private bankers and family offices — are welcome through the same route. Say so in your email and it will be routed accordingly.
Write to us
info@alpinalegacy.com
Helpful to include
- Your name, and the capacity in which you are writing
- The jurisdictions your affairs touch
- Whether a decision is time-bound — a sale, a relocation, a filing date
- A sentence or two on the situation. No detail is required at this stage.
Read by a partner. We reply within two business days. If you would rather establish a non-disclosure agreement first, say so and send nothing else — we will return our standard form signed within one business day.
How we handle your information.
Client information is accessible only to the advisors engaged on the matter, and to compliance personnel where regulation requires it. We operate information barriers between engagements. We do not cross-reference client data between introducer relationships, and we do not use one client's circumstances to inform an approach to another.
We do not disclose your identity as a client, including as a reference, without your written consent — which is why you will find no testimonials on this site.
Client portal
Your structure, continuously visible.
Policy documentation, annual review calendar, counterparty correspondence and reporting obligations — in one place, available to you and to the advisors you authorise.
- 01Documentation Policy contracts, schedules, amendments and counterparty statements, versioned and dated.
- 02Review calendar Annual reviews, reporting deadlines and premium dates, with advance notice of anything requiring a decision.
- 03Structural summary A current, plain-language description of what is held where, under which law, and who may direct what.
- 04Authorised advisors Grant and revoke access for your own counsel and tax advisors, with a record of who has seen what.
- 05Secure correspondence A direct channel to the advisors engaged on your matter, retained alongside the file.
Sign in
Access is provided to policyholders and to advisors they have authorised.
Access is issued by your advisor. If you do not yet have credentials, or need to authorise an advisor, contact the team through the enquiry form.