FOR many wealthy Asian entrepreneurs, the critical question of how best to transfer their family fortune to the next generation is no picnic.

That is why some of them are taking their private bankers' advice to go on a luxurious weekend holiday retreat together as a family - just to figure out how.

Credit Suisse recently sponsored a lavish three-day programme tailored specially for its Asian private banking clients, at the Ritz-Carlton Bali Resort & Spa on the Indonesian resort island.

Apart from the airfare, all other expenses from seminars, airport transfers and accommodation to activities such as watch appreciation were borne by the bank.

This Family Legacy Programme, held from Nov 1 to 4, attracted 23 participants from two generations of 12 families.

Indeed, private banks have been splashing out on specially designed wealth-transfer programmes for the baby-boomer generation of ultra-high net worth clients, who have at least $50 million in assets under management.

Currently, 61 per cent of the global high net worth population are aged over 56, according to the Merrill Lynch Cap Gemini World Wealth Report 2006.

About 92 per cent of these wealthy people are expected to move their assets to their immediate family or extended family members.

This has generated booming demand for legacy planning programmes. These are held largely in the United States or Europe.

However, Asian clients can attend these annual conferences, such as Citigroup's event held in the US last week, which was attended by more than 20 families with an average net worth of US$200 million (S$290.6 million).

But now, private bankers say that they are aggressively expanding their budgets for Asia-focused initiatives.

One executive said the bank has earmarked 'millions of dollars for each new initiative to attract Asian clients of rival banks to experience its legacy planning and wealth transfer programmes'.

JP Morgan Private Bank has created individual programmes for its Asian clients, such as a weekend programme at a resort hotel attended by about 30 family members spanning four generations.

With the help of two wealth advisers and a private banker, the family prepared a family employment policy that laid down rules for how members of the next generation could qualify to work in the family business.

But Credit Suisse's unconventional effort to organise a large-scale group holiday retreat for Asian clients - who are mostly entrepreneurs tackling wealth-transfer challenges for the first time - at a resort destination like Bali, ups the stakes in this battle.

The bank chose 'a location where the families could spend quality time together... in a relaxed environment', said Dr Francois Monnet, the managing director and head of private banking for Southeast Asia and Australasia.

The programme, designed jointly with Professor Randel Carlock, the founding director of the Wendel International Centre for Family Enterprises at Insead, the renowned European business school, was not just packed with workshops on estate and succession planning, business and family governance structures.

One highlight was a real-life case study session about the Eu Yan Sang family, which founded the Singapore-based traditional Chinese medicine company of the same name.

Mr Richard Eu, the group chief executive of the Singapore-listed company, fielded questions from the group on the family's experiences in wealth transfer.

Fun activities like 'Whodunit', run by professional actors, had participants working together in teams to solve a murder mystery and 'have fun learning more about themselves and others in the process', said Mr Stefan Mueller, the head of sales management for the Asia-Pacific at Credit Suisse.

The evenings were also spent on lighter activities such as the requisite wine tasting and watch appreciation at two of Bali's finest restaurants.

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