Governance
Families are being advised to get their financial affairs in order and brace for an increase in tax bills following the revelation the UK’s tax authority set up a secret unit to probe family investment companies, specifically their use by the wealthy to avoid inheritance tax.
The epicentre of risk in the financial system has moved. In 2008, it was leverage in the banks. Today, the equivalent risk is in the asset management industry, where a series of interlocking factors have come together to make markets increasingly ‘avalanche prone’. There is an illusion of stability. Low volatility has lulled many to sleep. We believe this will end badly—and are positioning portfolios to protect our clients from the avalanche.
A childhood spending summers among her family’s Remy Martin vineyards in the Cognac region of France gave Marie-Amelie Jacquet a deep appreciation for her family’s history. She speaks to Susan Lingeswaran about seeking her own path and coming back into the family fold
An inconvenient side effect to living in today’s fully digitised world is that threats have also gone digital—become more difficult to discover, track and neutralise. All financial institutions are now faced with the colossal task of protecting against increased threats to their business, no matter how ‘under the radar’ their profiles have traditionally been—family offices included.
Walmart is disappointed with festive consumer spending and Asda but online sales up 35%, JCB cuts UK production as the coronavirus hits Chinese suppliers, and fifth-generation US newspaper dynasty McClatchy Co files for bankruptcy.
A significant number of family businesses do not have a succession plan in place. Failure to address this is likely to be to the detriment of the business in the long-run. The family need to decide what the future of the business looks like, and crucially which family members, if any, wish to be involved.
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