IQ-EQ Roundtable Insights

Family office asset allocation

Family offices and the ways they invest capital have changed significantly over the past 10 years. With evolving and sophisticated investment strategies combined with compressed yields, focus has expanded from traditional asset classes to alternative assets, which may have traditionally been seen as out of scope. Against the backdrop of an ever-changing regulatory, risk and ESG landscape, what does family office asset allocation look like today and what does the future hold?

This was the crux of IQ-EQ’s virtual roundtable in November 2020, which brought together 13 senior experts from across the family office sphere – representing investment managers, advisors and service providers as well as family offices themselves.

It is striking the extent to which the number of family offices globally has grown over the past decade; the UBS Global Family Office Report reveals that 35% of all family offices have launched since 2010. Over a similar time period, as family wealth has grown, so too has the job of managing those assets. We’ve seen family offices evolve from opportunistic investors leveraging the family’s own business or sector expertise into much more sophisticated, professional and well governed operations, disciplined in their investment approach.

Naturally, the search for yield remains front and centre for every family office, particularly amid the current global market turbulence, and as this hunt becomes ever more challenging, we’re increasingly seeing family offices shift their investment focus in favour of alternative assets.

Added to this, other factors are having an ever-greater influence on family office asset allocation decisions. These include heightened risk considerations in today’s heavily regulated investment landscape, the rise of sustainable and socially responsible investing, and the upcoming ‘great wealth transfer’ that will see trillions of dollars’ worth of family wealth change hands between generations within the next 10 to 20 years.

During our IQ-EQ roundtable, these four key themes were each discussed in depth, with a broad range of perspectives shared. In this paper, we take each theme in turn, providing a detailed narrative of the key insights voiced throughout what proved to be a very interesting and lively session.

Click to download a copy of our roundtable discussion paper:

Download Insights Paper

 

Key contacts:

Kevin-OConnell-1-550x-715

Kevin O'Connell
Group Chief Commercial Officer
E: kevin.oconnell@iqeq.com
T: +44 1534 714 501

Jen-Le-Chevalier-(Grey)

Jennifer Le Chevalier
Head of Private Wealth, Jersey
E: jennifer.lechevalier@iqeq.com
T: +44 1534 714 508

Emmanuelle-Dotezac-(Grey)-

Emmanuelle Dotezac
Director, Funds & Private Wealth
E: emmanuelle.dotezac@iqeq.com
T: +44 7398 136790