W
ith the global economic growth
of the past several decades,
and billionaires minted every
other day in Asia and within
the international technology sector, the family
office has risen to grand prominence as more
super-rich seek close, sustained management
and successful transfer of generational wealth.
As might be expected by the name, a family
office is a private, nearly in-house wealth-man-
agement shop for a high-net-worth family.
ere are also "multifamily" offices that serve
several families.
Family offices do not have to register any-
where, so no authoritative tallies of the number
or size of family offices globally exist. Never-
theless, insights can be gleaned from industry
surveys: 311 family offices responded to a 2018
survey by Swiss investment bank UBS, and of
those more than two-thirds had been created
since 2000. Only a sliver of present-day family
offices existed before 1990.
e average amount managed by a family
office in 2017 was $1.1 billion, and a typical
single-family office has a full-time staff of 11
and a part-time staff of four, reported UBS.
THE SWELLING RANKS
ere are "at least 10,000 single-family offices
in existence globally, and at least half of these
By Benjamin Cole
Their ranks have grown to more than
10,000 worldwide, with $11 trillion in AUM,
and their numbers and financial might are
forecast to continue rapidly increasing
Family
OFFICES
flex their
muscles
44
REALASSETS ADVISER
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D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 8
