Big increase in family office assets under external management

External asset advisers are benefiting from a growing distrust among wealthy families in big banks, according to a director at financial research firm Cerulli Associates.



Following the 2008/2009 financial crisis, Bing Waldert reckons the wealthy are increasingly using multi family offices to manage their money – and MFOs in turn are making use of external asset advisers. 
 


“Multi family offices have profited from general lack of confidence in major banks in their role as independent financial advisers,” he told CampdenFB.



And although some MFOs are "very sophisticated organisations", not all have the "facilities to manage all the assets under their control in-house”, he added. The amount of US-based family office assets under management by external asset managers increased by 68% between 2007 and 2011 to $777.3 billion (€594.2 billion), according to a study released by the Boston-based research firm last week.



The research also found wealth preservation was family offices' biggest concern – with 34% citing this, followed distantly by planning for retirement at 17%.



Although listed far less than wealth preservation, other concerns included health, protecting wealth from taxes and levels of cash flow.