Citywealth Leaders List interview: 60 seconds with Peter Brigham, Rosemont Monaco SAM

Date: 05 Feb 2025

Karen Jones

This week’s 60-second piece is dedicated to Peter Brigham, Managing Director at Rosemont Monaco SAM.

Tell Citywealth readers a bit about your role.

I am managing director of the Rosemont Monaco operations, with a supervisory role over the Rosemont offices located in Malta, Mauritius, Singapore, Hong Kong, Vietnam, and Thailand. I am a UK Chartered Accountant by training, with hands on experience with Trust business, dealing with tax and estate planning issues for an international client base. A lot of my time has been focused on ensuring compliance with AML CFT obligations.

What does a typical day look like for you?

The day in Monaco normally starts with a wake up with sunshine which always gives a positive boost. It’s then followed by an expresso and a croissant at the cafe near to home where I scan world and Monaco news and emails received overnight looking at any urgent issues from the overseas offices which are open already. I like to be in the office around 8.00 so that I have cleared unexpected matters or redirected them to someone else to handle before most staff arrive.

Next priority is checking whether our AML system has raised any alerts on the overnight scan of our client data and relationships, and dealing with any new risks that we might be facing.

After that there are very few typical days, and they rarely end up as planned.

Compliance, legal and regulatory matters take up more and more time, as well as keeping track of new legislation that may affect our business and our clients. I will be reviewing business opportunities for new or prospective clients, trying to understand the different aspects where we can help, across tax, estate planning, legal regulatory, fiduciary support or where we might need outside assistance, and coordination of the teams to work in these files.

Wind up the day by 19hrs if I am lucky.

Tell us about some recent, interesting client instructions/requests you have received.

Some example cases are:

A long term Monaco resident considering moving back to the UK for health reasons, and the tax and estate planning implications for him, the existing offshore trust, and for his family.

UK nationals and UK resident non-doms taking up Monaco residence – residence application, choice of Monaco business structure and license application, to be followed with an analysis of Monaco estate planning issues.

Asset restructuring for a Monaco resident holding in UK commercial properties- previously held in offshore structures no longer accepted by the banks. Monaco onshore alternatives with assessment of Monaco tax issues on the restructuring and eventual estate planning implications.

Advice on structuring ownership of French real estate for a para-hotelier business.

Advice for a UK resident non-dom family structuring ownership of an existing company owning French real estate – dealing with succession planning, tax questions on the structuring and arrangements for the use of the property – combined with issues on UK wills, tax, IHT/gift taxes, and the effect of new UK tax legislation.

Advice on vat on us owned yacht planning charters in the med this coming season – vat on charters and customs status of the yacht

French tax analysis for a French resident investing in a Mauritius fintech company

Advice to a HK resident unmarried couple (without children) on the ownership of French real estate – IHT planning, Wills planning, discussion on Pacte civile de solidarité, enduring powers of attorney etc

What challenges do your clients face and how are you helping your clients to overcome them?

Clients are multi jurisdiction, and we help them understand and keep up with changes both onshore and offshore. They are often faced with multiple advisors who are experts in their fields, but who are unable to provide a full service.

We not only provide the advice but help implement and monitor the structuring on place.

What is your proudest professional achievement?

To have helped Rosemont develop and open offices in Asia and to diversify.

What do you consider to be the most important attributes for a leader?

Lead by example with passion with what you do is the most powerful motivator for the people around you.

Keep learning, and learn from the people around you.

Who do you most admire and why?

The female staff who manage to cope with work and childbirth and raising families and sick children (the reality is that this still fall almost always to the ladies).

Prince Albert – who has a difficult role in the public eye but is involved hands-on in making Monaco work. He is in touch with his subjects, he provides impetus to keep Monaco an attractive juridisction for work and residence, as well as taking a leading role international subjects like innovation, sustainability and economic development.

Where was the last place you travelled to for work or pleasure?

Malta, to catch up with the team there, to see the new offices. In December it’s a lovely spot to do some Christmas shopping.

If you weren’t in this industry, what else might you be doing?

I would have liked to be a landscape gardener.

How do you relax after a long day?

To be honest it’s putting the phone away, and not looking a Linkedin, with a glass of wine in front of a good Netflix series with my wife, and catching up with the children and grandchildren.