There is an ever increasing number of Family Offices being set up by wealthy families. Below we take a quick look at some of the main reasons these offices are being set up:

Confidentiality & discretion

High Net Worth Individuals (HNWIs) are highly sensitive to maintaining confidentiality for a variety of legitimate reasons, and setting up their own Single Family Office (SFO) or hand-picked Multi-Family Office (MFO) gives them the confidence and peace of mind that their information and data is being kept confidential.

Trust

Often HNWI's will employ professional advisors who they have worked with for some time and who they have grown to trust with their affairs. By engaging those advisors directly in their own Family Office they can maintain that trusted relationship.

Independence

By employing their own staff or engaging with an independently owned MFO, HNWI's can ensure that their Family Office's interests are closely aligned to their own with no conflicts of interest.

Time saving

Most wealthy families quickly realise that with great wealth comes the burden of managing that wealth. In this sense, time is truly precious and a Family Office may be used to manage personal homes, luxury assets, take care of travel arrangements and deal with what can sometimes be sensitive tasks.

Cost saving

Not only can the Family Office therefore provide a more holistic solution, it can also be more cost effective than utilising a range of external advisors.

Accountability

HNWIs want the staff reporting to them to be directly accountable for their actions. Consistency of personnel and a 'long life' employer-employee relationship means that Family Office staff understand the long-term effect of their role and actions.

Dedicated staff

Staff in an SFO are entirely dedicated to one client family and can therefore easily prioritise their work loads. Increasingly we are seeing MFO's employing some staff dedicated to a single client.

Flexibility

As the staff are reporting directly to the HNWI in an SFO or based on a bespoke service agreement in an MFO, their roles and responsibilities can be as flexible and varied as the HNWI requires.

Control

The HNWIs directly instruct staff within the Family Office. This means that the Family Office recruits and mentors staff who are highly skilled and very focussed on their client family's needs.

Tailored advice based on full and historical knowledge

The staff of the Family Office can know the whole picture – the tax and legal structure, the likes and dislikes of the HNWI and their family, together with a very deep and personal historic knowledge of the family's affairs. This in-depth knowledge means that the service offered can be extremely profound and personalised.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.