In response to growing demand from the super wealthy, family offices have proliferated during the past decade. According to EY, as of 2024, there are now up to 10,000 single family offices globally — ten times as many as in 2008. While you are likely aware that the purpose of a family office is to manage familial wealth, there is no single definition of what doing so entails. This article explores the nature of the modern family office, the top reasons to have one, and some high-level recommendations for your first steps toward forming one.
Cyberattacks on financial institutions are hardly rare these days, yet few entities shoulder as much risk as family offices tasked with safeguarding ultra-high-net-worth (UHNW) clients. IBM Security’s “Cost of a Data Breach” report places the global average expense of a breach at $4.45 million, noting that incursions into financial services typically run almost 10 percent higher than those in other sectors.
To successfully help high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) preserve and grow their wealth, a family office (FO) requires more than expert asset management and financial planning skills. It also needs comprehensive visibility into all the family’s assets—both those the FO manages and those it does not. Open banking is here to help. This article explains how.
To boost the efficiency of the Swiss wealth management business and to strengthen Switzerland as a financial and innovation center are two main goals of the OpenWealth Association. The community of banks, wealth, and wealth managers was established in 2021 in Zurich to develop, define, maintain, and operationalize the Open API standard for the wealth management community.
Whether you’re looking for a net-new wealth management platform, or looking to make a change, customer satisfaction should always be a top priority. It’s important to make sure your wealth management platform provider can deliver both the technology and the service that you need.
If you’re using Excel spreadsheets for wealth management, you may have wondered about the value of a wealth management platform, and at what point it makes sense to investigate the options.
As a wealth manager, do your clients take your advice entirely at face value? If not, they probably have good reasons. After all, they most likely became wealthy by thinking analytically. You should not expect them to stop that analysis just because you are providing the answers. Fortunately, their difficult questions can hold immense value for both you and them. A sophisticated digital wealth platform can help you extract and unlock that value.
In today’s increasingly digitalised financial landscape, all forward-thinking wealth professionals face a shared set of challenges in consolidating, analysing, and visualising data as they monitor investments. For family officers in particular, these challenges involve three specific challenges. Here we suggest how you can successfully address them.
To keep up with constantly shifting traditional markets like real estate and equities as well as emerging asset classes like NFTs and cryptocurrencies, many family offices have recognised the importance of investing in their people’s targeted education. In this article, we list some of the best business school offerings designed to help family office executives skill up.
Philanthropy has always played a crucial role in shaping communities and driving positive change. As time rolls on, each generation’s philanthropic priorities and approach to giving evolve. Understanding these differences and bridging the gap between older and younger generations is crucial for nonprofits to grow their supporter base and drive meaningful change.
When wealth owners achieve financial success with their family office, they may seek additional support from it in improving other aspects of their personal lives. Here we explain why some wealth owners make such requests and provide two recommendations for family officers considering meeting them.
Projections of the value of the personal assets set to change hands during the so-called Great Wealth Transfer have risen from US $129 trillion from $72 trillion. More significantly, or perhaps alarmingly, are expectations that up to 88% of heirs to this wealth will fire or replace their parents’ financial advisors. How can you position yourself to keep serving the next generation of their clients? Read on for our top three recommendations.
Wealthy families and their advisors face the challenge of handling complex information from diverse sources, including investment managers, lawyers, and accountants. Artificial intelligence (AI) is emerging as a powerful ally, aiding in extracting valuable insights from this information overload and facilitating clear communication within family offices. Below we outline the top four family office use cases for AI and what to remember when embracing them.
Return on investment (ROI) is the profit earned on an investment divided by the cost of that investment. Although this calculation fails to directly account for the time value of money – an important consideration as some investments take longer to return profits than others – it offers a quick, useful way to estimate the future success of a given project. How can you apply this concept when evaluating potential investments into new technology? What factors should you bear in mind? Here we outline our suggestions.
As digitalisation reshapes the global economy, a trend of so-called crypto philanthropy has emerged. Involving cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, this innovative concept provides a borderless and bureaucracy-free alternative to traditional philanthropy and is poised to take on a powerful role in charitable giving.
For family offices, going paperless not only streamlines operations but also supports a more sustainable and efficient business model. Read on for our top tips on how your family office can digitalise to improve the way you manage finances and boost overall productivity.
Single and multi family offices are contending with more complexity than ever. For family officers and the families they assist, this article lays out the three main causes of this complexity and how the Altoo Wealth Platform simplifies them.
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Cyberattacks on financial institutions are hardly rare these days, yet few entities shoulder as much risk as family offices tasked with safeguarding ultra-high-net-worth (UHNW) clients. IBM Security’s “Cost of a Data Breach” report places the global average expense of a breach at $4.45 million, noting that incursions into financial services typically run almost 10 percent higher than those in other sectors.
To successfully help high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) preserve and grow their wealth, a family office (FO) requires more than expert asset management and financial planning skills. It also needs comprehensive visibility into all the family’s assets—both those the FO manages and those it does not. Open banking is here to help. This article explains how.
To boost the efficiency of the Swiss wealth management business and to strengthen Switzerland as a financial and innovation center are two main goals of the OpenWealth Association. The community of banks, wealth, and wealth managers was established in 2021 in Zurich to develop, define, maintain, and operationalize the Open API standard for the wealth management community.
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Diversification is a cornerstone principle in wealth management. From the performance perspective, mitigated risks and enhanced returns are universally recognized benefits of allocating investments across various asset classes.
