There are more than 8,000 family offices in the world today, with that figure set to grow by 75% by 2030, a new report from Deloitte Private shows. North America will undergo the greatest growth – but Asia-Pacific is set to outpace the region in terms of speed.
Key Takeaways
- There are 8,030 single family offices in the world – up from 6,130 in 2019. That figure is expected to grow by more than 10,720 – or 75% – by 2030.
- The total estimated assets under management of these offices is expected to rise 73% to US$5.4 trillion (AU$8 trillion) by 2030.
- The estimated wealth of families with family offices is at US$5.5 trillion (AU$8.2 trillion), but that’s expected to grow to US$9.5 trillion (AU$14.2 trillion), a 189% increase.
- Asia Pacific has surpassed Europe in terms of number of family offices, and is expected to outpace North America in terms of its speed of growth by 2030.
- Women are increasingly taking on leadership roles within the family offices, with women now serving as the principals for 15% of family offices worldwide.
Big number
$8 trillion. That’s how much in assets under management (AUM) family offices will hold by 2030, up from US$3.1 trillion (AU$4.6 trillion) today. That represents a 73% increase in line with the growth in family wealth globally, which is being driven by increased wealth concentration, successful transfers of generational wealth and robust private equity and mergers and acquisitions markets.
By region, there are 3,180 family offices in North America today, 2,020 in Europe, 2,290 in Asia Pacific, 290 in the Middle East, 190 in South America, and 60 in Africa. And, while North America is set to see the greatest growth in number of offices, Asia-Pac is expected to outpace the region in terms of speed of growth between now and 2030.
Bigger number
$14.2 trillion. That’s how much wealth families of these offices will have by 2030, representing 189% increase. About 41% of family offices now service first-generation families, 30% serve second and 19% serve third-generation families.
“Off the back of gains in their operating businesses and wider investments, the world’s most affluent families have been accumulating wealth at a meteoric pace – and we expect this trend to continue,” Rebecca Gooch, Deloitte Private global head of insights, says.
“With an expectation that family wealth will nearly triple between 2019 and 2030, this is spurring demand for private wealth management structures, leading to a rapid rise in the size and sophistication of the family office arena.”
Crucial point
Women now serve as the principals for 15% of family offices worldwide, according to the report. Broken down by region, that’s 12% in North America and 18% in Asia-Pacific (but 22% in Oceania-based countries like Australia).
The findings also reveal that, on a like-for-like basis, women are more likely than men to utilise a family office for their wealth management.
What to watch for
Asia-Pacific and North America top the destination list when it comes to setting up family offices, with 34% of family offices targeting each of these regions compared to just 24% for Europe.
That’s in line with UBS’ findings in its 2024 Global Family Office report, which show that the Asia-Pacific will actually be the top investment destination for these globally, too.
“Almost half of APAC family offices plan to allocate more assets to APAC over the next five years, with APAC set to be the top investment hotspot globally,” LH Koh, Head of UBS global family institutional wealth APAC, said at the time.
And new trends are expected to emerge: the majority of surveyed respondents said they expected there to be an expansion in the number of offices worldwide (73%), that they would become more institutionalised and professionally managed (66%), and that they would adopt greater asset class and geographic investment portfolio diversification (55%).
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