On 16 September, UMA Wealth co-hosted two panels at Veirano Advogados in São Paulo, together with Müller Law, Quijano & Associates, Vontobel, BTG Pactual and Vells.

The morning dealt with Brazilian families moving abroad. The afternoon dealt with the opposite case: European families and business owners looking at Brazil, as a new home or as a Plan B. Same room, same day, traffic in both directions.

Three points from the afternoon:

  1. Europe has become an exporter of families. In 2025 the UK lost more millionaires than any other country, and Germany and the Netherlands recorded their highest emigration in decades. Most people will stay. Enough will not.
  2. Brazil is a business decision first. 210 million consumers, a century of European industry in São Paulo, and an investor visa that runs through the company you establish. The business decides; the family follows.
  3. The order of events matters more than the structure. Exit tax, succession and the holding are settled before departure. Brazil taxes worldwide income from day one to careful planning is required to minimize taxation on worldwide income.

We worked through a fictional German family business to show where a Swiss holding with real substance, a Luxembourg policy and banking on both sides of the Atlantic each fit, and where they do not.

Ten practitioners from five countries. They did not always agree, which was the point.

Thank you to Dr. T. Alex Backsmann and André Carvalho (Veirano Advogados), Alfred Dangoor (Vells), José Tolipan (BTG Pactual), Julio Quijano (Quijano & Associates), Stefano Demarco (Vontobel), Roger Müller (Müller Law), and our colleagues: Geralda Kral,  Fabio Mastrosimone and Álvaro Becerra.