Over the next two to three decades, an estimated US$11 trillion in private wealth will change hands across Asia-Pacific – one of the largest intergenerational wealth transfers in modern history, according to the Swiss Bank UBS.

The region’s next-generation family members perceive this shift very differently from their counterparts in Europe and North America. In Asia-Pacific, inheritors are more likely to associate a family milestone with the passing of a family member. By contrast, in Europe and North America, inheritance is more strongly tied to a shift in responsibility.

They are the inheriting generation, stepping into responsibility within their families. UBS also observed that successors were getting involved in family wealth at younger ages in Asia, especially in China.

“Families worry about wealth not passing through three generations,” said Amy Lo Choi-wan, chairman of UBS Global Wealth Management Asia and CEO of UBS Hong Kong. “They want to plan much earlier.”

These findings come from a UBS survey of next-generation individuals ranging in age from below 21 to above 45, with the majority between 26 and 40. They represent the inheriting generation – those stepping into responsibilities within their families.

While the Swiss bank defined the next generation of leaders aged between 18 and 60, 65 per cent were already engaged in managing family wealth as young adults from 20 to 35 years old.