What are family offices around the world thinking about? What shifts are they planning in their strategic asset allocation? These are the questions posed by the UBS Global Family Office Report 2024, which was published yesterday.
The traditional Swiss bank surveyed 320 single family offices from seven regions around the world to find out what issues are on their minds. The total assets of the families represented in the study amount to over USD 600 billion, with average assets of USD 2.6 billion, making it the largest study of its kind in the world.
The key findings: safe and balanced investments in western industrialised countries are preferred, with stocks becoming more popular. Geographically, the focus is on North America and East Asia. Technology determines the investment themes: the majority of the offices surveyed would like to invest in artificial intelligence, medical technology as well as automation and robotics in the future. In contrast, family offices see the greatest threat to the markets in major geopolitical conflicts, climate change and sovereign debt.
"The UBS reports on family offices and the art market are an invaluable tool for us to better understand the needs of our high net worth clients. The Global Family Office Report 2024 shows that topics such as sustainability and artificial intelligence, which move politics and wider society, are also playing an increasingly important role in the work of family offices," explains Maximilian Brazel, lawyer at dtb rechtsanwälte. "However, the open-mindedness towards new topics is also offset by concerns about the effects of geopolitical conflicts and climate change. Family offices are therefore increasingly looking for (legally) secure and diversified investments for the large assets they manage."