The demand for Family Offices continues to increase dramatically, especially in those countries where more billionaires are being created.
India, one of the fastest growing economies in the world and Asia which has created more high net worth individuals surpassing North America, are creating more Family Offices to manage their personal and corporate needs.
In China, most of the assets are still controlled by the first and second generations, and one of the most significant issues that needs to be addressed is “succession planning”. One of the main reasons to establish a Family Office is to preserve the wealth that has already been created. In order for the Family Offices to be effective, there must be “trust” established between the family members and with their service providers. In many cases, the families don’t feel that the big banks have their best interests at heart and prefer the more personal boutique firms. They prefer an organization whereby their advice is not tied to selling their financial products. The most recent trend is to hire their own in-house Chief Investment Officer, and they are now willing to compete with the hedge funds for the high level of talent. Most of the families in Asia are conservative and are most interested in steady returns and lower risk.
In India, the families are most interested in finding the most efficient ways to preserve wealth and generate more wealth. They are moving into more direct investments in private equity, real estate and hedge funds. Family offices are being established in India to help successfully transfer wealth between generations and to get involved in co-investing opportunities. The Family Offices are providing wealth management, concierge and administrative duties, assisting with their corporate issues and even establishing family governance. Two additional notes are that a large percentage of the families in India invest significantly in India and most of them are philanthropic.
For additional information on Family Offices globally or on how to establish Family Offices with “best practices”, please contact: Michael Rosenblatt President of FON Search and The Quest Organization at 212-971-0033 or via email at michael.rosenblatt@questorg.com
Leave a Reply