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This is the sixth year that UBS has surveyed the opinions of its wealthiest clients. The average net worth of the families is $2.7 billion and of that, the family offices are managing around $1.1 billion of their assets. Family Offices can be “single”, serving the needs of just one family, or “multi”, offering similar services to a single office but with shared infrastructure and resources. EXE Capital Management is more closely aligned to the multi-office model and so it is interesting to compare our approach with that of these ultra-high-net-worth families.

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Here are some of the key takeaways.

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• Staying the Course: Despite the challenges facing the world from tariffs to geo-political risk, the offices are sticking with their long-term strategic asset allocation, splitting assets between traditional and alternative assets and see no reason to alter this.

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• Regional Allocation Trends: US offices moved more of their client funds back to the US and have on average 86% in US stock. European offices on the other hand, tend to divide their equity allocation equally between US and European listed companies.

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• Focus on Developed Markets: Most of the offices favour developed market equities and have very little in emerging markets due to geo-political risk.

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• Preference for Active Management: On average, whilst family offices make use of passive strategies, a greater share of equity investments is managed actively and diversified between growth, value and quality styles of investing.

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• Balanced Portfolio Construction: Around half of the family’s investments are held in traditional assets. In Europe and the Middle East portfolios are typically split 70:30 between equites and fixed interest.  In the US, the fixed interest element reduces to around 20%.  The other half is in Real Estate and Private Equity. Due to the size of their wealth, families are more willing to take on additional risk and around 30% of their wealth is invested in Private Equity and Private Debt.

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In summary I would say that EXE Capital’s investment beliefs are closely aligned with those of the world’s leading family offices. Like them we take a long-term steady approach focused on preserving and growing wealth across generations. It is reassuring to know we are in good company.

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A summary of the recent UBS Global Family Office Report, from James Scott-Hopkins, Founder, EXE Capital Management.

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