Looking ahead, Deloitte data suggests that family offices will only continue to grow, holding US$5.4 trillion in assets by 2030.
The power and influence of single-family offices—entities the wealthy create to manage their own fortunes and personal affairs—is growing worldwide, with more than 9,000 individual offices controlling US$5.5 trillion, according to a Deloitte report on Wednesday.
The consulting firm polled 354 single-family offices, with each office overseeing an average US$2 billion in assets under management. The survey pool represented both clients and offices not associated with the family and private business branches of the organization, says Rebecca Gooch, global head of insights for London-based Deloitte Private.
Among the stark increases in reach and influence were the relative youth of family offices as whole. Deloitte data estimated that 68% of the roughly 8,020 family offices in action globally were established after the year 2000, and only 10% represent legacy families of more than four generations.
What’s more, women represent a growing leadership role of these offices, now accounting for 15% of all family office principals.
Many women have believed they are overdue for being represented at the highest levels of these offices, “and it’s still unfolding for how they’ll make an impact,” says Gooch, who was also an author of the report.
Deloitte Tax partner Eric Johnson, who was also involved in the research says that as more women take on higher roles in the financial industry, it’s a natural progression for them to move to leadership roles in family offices.
“It’s a challenge among family offices as they look to pull from outside sectors,” Johnson says.
North American family offices continue to be a main force in the sector, accounting for US$2.4 trillion in wealth—a number that has more than doubled since 2019 and is expected to grow another 24% to US$2.9 trillion by 2025 and by 71% to US$4 trillion by 2030.
Asia Pacific is another key growth region, with family offices there controlling an estimated US$1 trillion in wealth, up 61% from 2019. The region’s wealth is projected to grow another 29% to US$1.3 trillion by 2025 and to nearly double by 2030 to US$2 trillion.
“There’s a tremendous amount of new wealth coming out of Asia,” Gooch says.
As the wealth within these offices grows, so does their own infrastructures: 28% now have more than one branch, with satellite offices being necessary to tackle a range of new investment strategies and outreach for the younger generations getting ready to assume control of these significant sums.
Deloitte reports that four in 10 family offices will undergo succession in the next decade. One chief operating officer (who remained anonymous) told Deloitte that their office was building multiple branches to empower third- and fourth-generation family members whose strategic priorities differed from others in the family.
Looking ahead, Deloitte data suggests that family offices will only continue to grow, holding US$5.4 trillion in assets by 2030. They also may begin to take a different shape as the offices begin to work through those familial successions.
“There will be trillions of dollars in transition, and [younger family members] are thinking about the legacies they want to build,” Gooch says.
