Asia’s wealthy families want to preserve their fortunes across generations, but many still lack basic succession plans, according to a new Lombard Odier survey.

The survey of more than 390 high-net-worth individuals across Asia-Pacific with net investable assets of at least $1 million found that 64.2% of respondents said preserving family wealth across generations was their main priority when considering wealth transfer.

Yet only 26.9% said their family had a full succession plan in place, while 39.4% said they had no succession planning at all. 

The findings expose what the Swiss private bank described as an “intention-implementation gap” among Asia’s wealthy families, many of whom remain underprepared despite growing awareness of succession risks. 

The issue is becoming increasingly urgent as Asia and the rest of the world undergo a massive intergenerational wealth transfer, particularly among first-generation entrepreneurs preparing to pass businesses and fortunes to their children. 

John Woods, Lombard Odier’s Asia chief investment officer, warned that many families risk squandering wealth without stronger governance and planning frameworks.

“This sort of concern around this contradiction is worrisome to me,” Woods said during a roundtable accompanying the report launch.

“If [majority] of the clients we surveyed haven’t really given a major thought to wealth planning, they won’t hold on to their wealth very long,” he added.

Across Asia-Pacific, Japan, the Philippines, Malaysia and Hong Kong stood out for weak succession preparedness. About half of the respondents in those markets said they had no succession plan or felt such planning was not relevant to them.

The survey also found that many older family members have yet to meaningfully involve younger generations in governance and wealth discussions. More than a quarter of Baby Boomers surveyed said their families had not discussed having a clear common purpose for wealth. 

Louisa Loo, Lombard Odier’s head of wealth planning for Asia, said many wealthy Asian families continue to delay succession discussions because of cultural sensitivities and a lack of urgency. 

Communication remains a major hurdle, particularly in Asia, where discussions around inheritance and wealth transfer are often considered taboo. Nearly 29% of respondents identified a lack of open communication as a key governance challenge. 

“When something unexpected happens, which often does, many families will be completely unprepared,” she said.

Groups representing the largest U.S. airlines and hotel chains slammed the Trump administration’s potential halt of customs and immigration processing at “sanctuary city” airports, warning such a move could have “devastating” consequences on the industry.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said in an interview on Fox News’ “Hannity” on Tuesday night that if “radical left Democrats” aren’t allowing the government to “enforce federal laws… we shouldn’t be processing international flights into their cities either.”

The secretary’s comments came just ahead of the FIFA Men’s World Cup next month that is expected to bring millions of visitors to host cities in the U.S., Canada and Mexico, drawing alarm from the travel industry.

Mullin said the Trump administration is “drawing up plans” but isn’t putting anything into place yet. The timing of the idea being floated raises questions about whether the administration is using its leverage to try to persuade cities whose immigration policies it disagrees with to be less lenient with undocumented immigrants.

The feud over immigration could cripple international flights into the U.S. The Justice Department last August published a list of states and cities it said are impeding U.S. immigration policies, which include major international air hubs New York, Newark, New Jersey, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle and Philadelphia.

“Reducing [Customs and Border Protection] staffing at major airports would have a devastating effect on the airline and tourism industries, causing a significant operational disruption to carriers, travelers and the flow of international cargo,” said Airlines for America, a trade association whose members include American Airlines, United Airlines and Delta Air Lines.

The U.S. Travel Association, whose members include airlines and major hotel chains like Hilton and Marriott, said Mullin confirmed in a meeting with the group that the administration is considering withdrawing CPB officers. The group also said it would have “devastating consequences for the travel industry and communities that depend on international visitation.”

Energy inflation tied to the war in Iran has lasted longer than expected, creating a “stagflationary shock” for Asian economies, Chicago Federal Reserve President Austan Goolsbee said Thursday.

Speaking to CNBC’s Kaori Enjoji at the Bank of Japan-IMES Conference, Goolsbee said that initial estimates in the futures markets had expected energy prices to be “a lot lower” than current levels.

While oil prices have eased recently on signs of progress in U.S.-Iran peace talks, prices remain well above levels seen before the war.

Brent crude futures, the international benchmark, gained over 1.81% to $96 per barrel, while the West Texas Intermediate futures gained 1.71% to $90.21 per barrel.

That compares with $72 price for Brent, and $67.02 for WTI the day before the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran.

Goolsbee also sounded a warning for Asian economies, saying that, because they are energy importers, “it’s more just a stagflationary shock of the old-fashioned variety.”

The Chicago Fed President, who voted against the Federal Reserve’s final rate cut in 2025, said he dissented because he wanted evidence that inflation would not be persistent.

“I don’t regret dissenting at that meeting, because the inflation has not proved as temporary as was advertised at the beginning,” he added.

Still, Goolsbee said that if inflation starts moving back toward the Fed’s 2% target, interest rates would “ultimately settle at some place well below where they are today.”

Asked about the possibility that artificial intelligence could boost productivity, Goolsbee said he was concerned financial markets may run ahead of the actual economic benefits from AI adoption.

“My concern is that future increases in productivity that make us rich may fuel high equity prices that they are a increase in your wealth today, to know that you’re going to be rich sometime in the future,” Goolsbee said.

“That can encourage people to spend out of this wealth in the stock market or others, and before the AI has actually increased the productivity, you can overheat the economy in the near term.”

Goolsbee said policymakers should watch for signs that stock market gains linked to AI are spilling into broader inflation pressures.

“I want people to just pay attention to, are you seeing big increases in consumer spending fueled by stock market wealth increases? Are you seeing data center investment driving up the cost of electricity of construction workers and having this short-run impact upon inflation in the U.S.?”

He added that the same dynamic could eventually affect Asian economies because new technologies rarely remain concentrated in one country.

“If there is productivity growth to be had from AI, it will be coming soon to Asian countries too,” he said.

Kuwait activated its air defenses Thursday in response to what it described as “hostile missile and drone threats,” according to a post by the country’s armed forces on X.

The military did not say where the attacks originated, but added any explosion sounds ​heard were the ​result ​of ⁠air-defense systems intercepting incoming attacks.

The developments come as tensions in the Middle East escalated again following fresh U.S. strikes in Iran overnight.

A U.S. official told MS NOW on Wednesday that its forces had carried out new strikes targeting a military site that was believed to pose a threat to U.S. forces and commercial maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz. 

In a statement posted on state news agency Tasnim, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it struck a U.S. air base after a U.S. attack was conducted outside Bandar Abbas airport.

“If it is repeated, our response will be more decisive,” the IRGC said.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Treasury announced new sanctions against Iran’s Persian Gulf Strait Authority, a government agency that regulates transit through the Strait of Hormuz by collecting fees from vessels.

The Treasury Department said that anyone cooperating with the authority “may be providing support to and receiving services from the IRGC, which ultimately benefits from this attempted extortion, and may therefore be exposed to sanctions risk.”

Oil prices climbed over 3%, with both the international benchmark Brent and U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures rising.

The escalation came after Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday stateside that the U.S. will give talks with Iran “every chance to succeed.”

Speaking at a meeting of U.S. President Donald Trump’s Cabinet, Rubio said talks with Iran have made some progress. Trump prefers diplomacy but has other options available if that doesn’t work, Rubio said, likely a reference to renewed military strikes.

— CNBC’s Spencer Kimball contributed to this report.

Asia-Pacific markets traded mixed on Wednesday as investors assessed recent U.S. military action in Iran, the fragile state of the Washington-Tehran ceasefire and optimism that a deal could still be reached.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed flat at 64,999.41, giving up gains after hitting a fresh record high, while the Topix declined 0.52%.

South Korea’s Kospi closed 2.52% higher at 8,228.7, while the small-cap Kosdaq declined 3.36% to 1,133.13. Shares of Samsung Electronics rose 2.68% after unionized workers at the company in South Korea approved a provisional wage agreement, averting a potential strike that could have disrupted global semiconductor supply chains.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.69%, closing at 8,717.7.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index declined 1.03% in the final hour of trading, while the mainland CSI 300 was down 0.79% at 4,908.53.

U.S. forces carried out what the Pentagon described as “self-defense” strikes in southern Iran early Tuesday, targeting missile launch sites and Iranian vessels allegedly attempting to deploy mines, even as Washington insisted it was still observing restraint under the ongoing ceasefire framework.

The military action highlighted the fragile truce between Washington and Tehran, with both sides continuing to test limits despite negotiations that the White House has described as nearing completion.

President Donald Trump said Monday that talks with Iran to end the war were “proceeding nicely.” That said, he did warn the U.S. could go on the offensive if negotiations break down.

Overnight on Wall Street, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite rose to fresh intraday all-time highs on Tuesday, led by technology, as traders weighed the developments in the Middle East.

The broad market S&P 500 gained 0.61% and ended at 7,519.12, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 1.19% to 26,656.18. Both indexes also closed at records. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 118.02 points, or 0.23%, ending at 50,461.68. U.S. stock markets were closed Monday due to the Memorial Day holiday.

— CNBC’s Sean Conlon and Fred Imbert contributed to this report

Shares of SK Hynix jumped as much as 11% on Wednesday, lifting the South Korean chipmaker’s market capitalization above $1 trillion as investors continued to pile into artificial intelligence-linked semiconductor stocks.

The rally extended a blistering run that has seen SK Hynix shares skyrocket about 250% since the start of the year, fueled by surging demand for high-bandwidth memory chips used in AI servers and accelerators.

The company has emerged as a key supplier to AI chip giant Nvidia, cementing its position at the center of the global AI supply chain.

The rally comes just weeks after domestic rival Samsung Electronics also crossed the $1 trillion market capitalization mark. Shares of Samsung Electronics added over 6% on Wednesday.

The two chipmakers account for more than 40% of South Korea’s benchmark Kospi, underscoring how closely the index’s performance has become tied to global demand for AI-related semiconductors and memory chips.

The Kospi index has nearly doubled since the start of the year, according to data from LSEG.

Analysts have warned that the concentration could heighten market volatility and leave the benchmark more exposed to risks, including supply chain disruptions and a slowdown in global data center investment.

SK Hynix’s rally may still have room to run, according to Peter Kim, global investment strategist at KB Financial Group. He highlighted that earnings upgrades are outpacing even the stock’s meteoric gains.

“Fundamentals and valuations of the two twin towers … are still very much intact,” Kim said, referring to SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics.

He said that SK Hynix’s valuation has become “cheaper” as analysts have raised earnings forecasts faster than share prices have increased.

South Korea’s Kospi hit a fresh record Tuesday as trading resumed after a public holiday, with investor sentiment supported by hopes for a breakthrough in the U.S.-Iran peace talks.

President Donald Trump said Monday negotiations with Iran were “proceeding nicely,” though he warned that the U.S. could resume attacks if the talks failed.

Oil prices were mixed after Trump’s comments. International benchmark Brent futures for July rose 2.78% to $98.81 per barrel, while West Texas Intermediate futures for July fell 4.42% to $92.33 per barrel as of 3:30 a.m. ET, compared with Friday’s close. There was no WTI price settlement Monday due to the U.S. Memorial Day holiday, Reuters reported.

Signaling the precarious nature of the Washington-Tehran engagement, the U.S. Central Command conducted “self-defense strikes” targeting Iranian missile launch sites and boats attempting to lay mines in the south of the Islamic Republic.

Meanwhile, Tehran appears to be “blinking” over the Strait of Hormuz, ex-CIA Director David Petraeus told CNBC’s Lisa Kim at the UBS Asian Investment Conference on Monday.

South Korea’s Kospi was 2.55% higher at 8,047.51, after rising to a record high of 8,131.15 in intraday trade. The small-cap Kosdaq pared gains, ending 0.98% higher.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 ended Tuesday’s session 0.25% lower at 64,996.09 amid some profit taking, while the Topix was marginally lower at 3,938.46. The Nikkei 225 breached 65,000 for the first time Monday in holiday-thinned Asia trading. The Bank of Japan’s Deputy Governor Ryozo Himino said the timing of a rate hike is still being considered, as the central bank continues to monitor developments in the Middle East, according to Reuters.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.39% at 8,657.80.

China’s CSI 300 gained 0.53% at 4,947.85, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was flat in choppy trade following a public holiday on Monday.

India’s Nifty 50 slipped 0.23%, while the BSE Sensex declined 0.28%.

S&P 500 futures gained 0.78%, and Nasdaq-100 futures advanced 1.14%. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures popped 371 points, or 0.73%.

U.S. stock markets were closed Monday due to the Memorial Day holiday.

— CNBC’s Fred Imbert and Lim Hui Jie contributed to this report.

U.S. forces conducted “self defense” strikes in southern Iran early Tuesday, with U.S. Central Command saying the military action was to “protect our troops from threats posed by Iranian forces.”

CENTCOM spokesman Tim Hawkins said targets included missile launch sites and Iranian boats attempting to emplace mines

“U.S. Central Command continues to defend our forces while using restraint during the ongoing ceasefire,” Hawkins added.

The action comes as U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday stateside that the talks with Iran were “proceeding nicely.” However, he warned that “it will only be a Great Deal for all or, no Deal at all,” threatening to take things “Back to the Battlefront and shooting, but bigger and stronger than ever before.”

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is in India, said that the Strait of Hormuz has to be open, “one way or the other,” referring to U.S. action against Iran, Reuters reported. He added that the deal with Iran could take a few days. Fox News, citing senior U.S. officials on Monday said that the Iran deal was “95% there.”

This is not the first instance of military action since a ceasefire was reached between Washington and Tehran on April 8. Later that month, U.S. marines seized the Touska, an Iranian cargo ship, and in May, both sides traded fire in the Strait of Hormuz, with each side claiming the other initiated the attack.

In a separate Truth Social post, the U.S. President said Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium will be “immediately turned over to the United States to be brought home and destroyed,” destroyed in Iran or “at another acceptable location.”

Trump also urged Arab nations to sign the Abraham Accords, which would normalize their relations with Israel. However, Pakistan roundly rejected the proposal, with a source telling Reuters that the two issues were “not interlinked and cannot be made so.”

Oil prices were mixed Tuesday morning, with U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures down about 5% at $91.87 per barrel, but international benchmark Brent was up 2.14% at $98.2.

Chen Lanhee, partner at advisory firm Brunswick, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” that a majority of the American public wants the war to be over.

“It doesn’t matter what Iran does or doesn’t have, it doesn’t matter what the contours of the deal are. They just want the war over to bring petrol or gas prices down,” Chen said.

Hi, this is Evelyn, writing to you from Beijing. Welcome to the latest edition of The China Connection — a succinct snapshot of what I’m seeing and hearing from local businesses.

Now that the Trump-Xi summit has helped keep tariffs in check, Chinese companies and U.S. representatives alike are making the most of an extended truce to get some deals going. But is that enough to overcome data security and branding hurdles?

For businesses navigating U.S.-China tensions, “the worst is over,” Zou Ping, co-founder of AI Speech, told me in Suzhou last week.

It was just a few days after he’d returned from the U.S., one of the company’s key growth markets as it pushes sales of high-end microphones, speakers and digital note-taking tablets.

The company’s speakers and microphones use on-device AI capabilities to improve sound quality and are widely used in company meeting rooms and university classrooms, he said.

The timing could hardly be better.

Earlier this month, the U.S. and China agreed to pursue “constructive strategic stability,” signaling a broader effort to stabilize ties after more than a year of escalating tensions and tariff hikes that at one point pushed cumulative duties above 100%.

Now, the extended truce suggests those levies could remain at about half those levels for longer.

For Zou, tariffs and market access remain the biggest concerns. But for at least the next three to five years, he’s hopeful that the U.S.-China relationship won’t deteriorate further.

The bigger challenge for winning U.S. customers, he said, is branding.

AI Speech is exploring acquisitions and local hiring as part of its U.S. expansion strategy, he said, hinting at conversations with New York electronics retailer B&H.

The theme echoed conversations I had with other executives: recent trips to the U.S. and Europe, discussions with major American retailers and renewed plans for overseas growth.

“We’re talking with Best Buy right now,” Guo Renjie, CEO of humanoid robot startup Zeroth, told me in Suzhou last week.

He claimed the company received many orders at the Consumer Electronics Show in January, and plans to start sales this fall in the U.S. and Europe, initially focusing on a toy-sized interactive robot.

Chinese investment in the U.S. has plunged over the last decade.

Still, officials on both sides are looking for areas where cooperation remains possible.

The U.S. and China said this month they would establish trade and investment boards focused on non-sensitive sectors, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC.

Fast-growing Chinese consumer companies are also exploring overseas acquisitions, such as the reported acquisition of sustainable fashion brand Everlane by online retailer Shein.

At the state level, engagement continues.

“I see a lot of collaboration happening,” said Andrea Chartock, assistant director at the Washington State Department of Commerce’s Office of Economic Development and Competitiveness. “Just a few days ago, I spoke at an event for a Chinese delegation and we made some presentations both from Washington State and Seattle as well as from the Chinese side,” she said.

Chartock spoke with me in Chongqing last week as part of a delegation from Seattle. The two metropolitan areas have been “sister cities” for decades — a municipal-level agreement to facilitate trade and international exchange.

A few days later in Suzhou, trade ministers from the 21 member economies of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation gathered for a conference.

Casey Mace, the senior U.S. APEC official attending, told me how Washington is pushing American AI solutions across Asia while also encouraging more investment in the U.S.

The Trump-Xi summit, he said, has contributed to a more “positive” tone in recent working-level discussions.

Chinese companies, meanwhile, are trying to get ahead of data security concerns and tariff-related risks.

Zou emphasized that AI Speech products do not upload user data, and that U.S. customers who choose to buy any AI features would be served through its international data centers.

And Zeroth’s Guo said he’s exploring U.S. manufacturing options, particularly in Texas, to reduce tariff exposure.

At the end of the day, he said, “China and the U.S. are still the largest markets.”

U.S. pushes its AI in China and Asia after Trump-Xi meeting

The U.S. is working hard to ensure American technology is used in Asia, a senior State Department official told CNBC, as China races to build cheaper alternatives. He was speaking alongside the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation trade ministers’ meeting that ran from Friday to Saturday.

Job training for robots: How China is getting machines ready to join the workforce

At robot learning centers in China, people teach machines how to work in a variety of scenarios. Humanoid robots are part of Beijing’s bigger industrial strategy to dominate global markets and supply chains.

China’s second-largest chip foundry Hua Hong says it has ‘always been compliant’ with U.S. export controls

Daniel Wang, CFO of Shanghai Hua Hong Grace Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation, said the memory chip boom may last longer because of AI. Demand from AI, industrial and automotive clients is keeping its fabs running at full capacity, with momentum expected to continue into 2026.

May 23-26: Pakistani Prime Minister to visit China

May 26: Chinese Foreign Minister attends high-level meeting of UN Security Council

May 27: Nio to officially launch flagship ES9 SUV

May 28 – 30: Chinese Foreign Minister visits Canada

May 31: China releases official manufacturing PMI for May

June 1: RatingDog China general manufacturing PMI

Singapore on Monday reported a lower-than-expected rise in consumer prices for April at 1.8% on the back of a smaller increase in services, retail and other goods inflation.

Reuters-polled economists had estimated headline inflation at 2%.

Core inflation — which strips out prices of private transport and accommodation — came in at 1.4% compared with expectations of 1.7%.

Singapore’s trade ministry and its monetary authority, however, said that the city-state’s imported cost pressures were expected to pick up and broaden in the months ahead.

“As higher energy and other input costs arising from the developments in the Middle East pass through global supply chains, they will raise production and transport costs for a wider range of Singapore’s imported goods and services,” the authorities said in a joint statement.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore expects headline and core inflation to come in at 1.5%-2.5% for 2026.

Zavier Wong, market analyst at trading platform eToro, described the reading as “a mild positive surprise,” adding that with peace talks in the Middle East appearing to progress and oil prices dipping recently, there was a “credible path to some imported cost relief” later this year.

Earlier in the day, Singapore revised its first-quarter GDP growth sharply higher to 6%, up from 4.6% in advanced estimates, and topping Reuters estimates of 5.1%.

The country’s ministry of trade and industry said that Singapore’s full year growth will come in between 2%-4% in 2026, amid energy-related disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz.

The MAS in April tightened its monetary policy for the first time in about three years due to the inflation outlook.

Unlike most nations, Singapore does not use interest rates to manage its monetary policy, but instead guides the Singapore dollar within a policy band against a trade-weighted basket of currencies.

Singapore dollar is managed within the set policy band, whose precise levels are not disclosed.