“Family Office” is a term bandied about regularly these days including here in Gibraltar. We provide such services at Acquarius for several clients. But what precisely is a “Family Office”? And what might one expect it to provide?

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A recent Spear’s Wealth Management Survey defined family offices as “private companies that support a number of functions for wealthy families including the smooth running of day-to-day affairs, as well as more complex matters involving wealth management and strategy.” Crucially for us at Acquarius, they add: “These issues are particularly important for families with assets and interests in multiple jurisdictions.”

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At its simplest, the term refers to a firm that handles investment and wealth management for a wealthy family. The dedicated team is entirely paid for by the family concerned, thus a “single family office” is created. Naturally, the expense would be daunting for all but the wealthiest families. There are no fixed rules, but it is generally supposed that overall wealth of around US$100m would be required to justify this structure. Similarly, so called “multi-family offices” or even “outsourced” versions manage the affairs of several families at once. 

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By their nature, family offices differ from regular wealth management companies given their focus on a family’s overall requirements. Not limited to a single asset class, they might include property, alternatives and the adoption of specific strategies designed by the family itself. 

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The earliest family offices were established in the US and a substantial proportion continue to be based there, particularly in New York. Both the DuPont and Rockefeller dynasties lay claim to creating the world’s first real “family office.” The largest such structure today is said to be Walton Enterprises, established by the late founder of Walmart. Apart from the US, Switzerland maintains a leading position in the field and has been joined by other jurisdictions such as the Crown Dependencies, UAE and others.

A 2024 Report by Preqin, a specialist data provider, estimated that there were more than 4,500 family office firms worldwide although due to the market’s sensitive nature, concrete numbers are difficult to access confidently. Clearly though, there is growing interest for this type of service and we are seeing increased demand for them in Gibraltar. There are local firms dedicated to just one family, but the more common option is for companies such as Acquarius looking at the multi-family office model. Demand has developed from the previously ultra-high-net-worth level, and we are encountering clients who are not (yet) in the US$100m bracket but nevertheless who wish to use a family office approach to their overall structure.

Family office services are now provided by trust companies or related investment businesses. This has moved a long way from the original dedicated company with one family as its client so that now several families at once might be served.

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The phrase “multi-family office” has had me thinking for years. I always felt that “trust company” used to be a far more appropriate phrase. To me, there seemed little difference between providing fiduciary services to a group of families, and a traditional trust company with one hundred or more clients. 

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But I have changed my view recently having discussed this point with a Swiss provider. He argues that it is the type of services provided to families that truly define what they are rather than merely the number of clients to whom they might be provided. Let us recall that a trust company provides fiduciary services to its client base. That business is clearly built on accurate, compliant provision of the fiduciary services themselves. Although we are always looking to do more for a client, the truth is that for many, the straightforward provision of a trust or company vehicle suffices. 

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Back to our family then. In a recent article, my colleague Laura Fuhr discussed Private Trust Companies – a company established to act as trustee to a single trust or a series of linked entities. This affords a client an element of ongoing control and is, in my view, an ideal vehicle for a family office structure. 

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At Acquarius, we welcome all client types – those that require just a single structure and others that have a whole series of family needs that must be satisfied. Acquarius’ experienced skillset, combined with the advantages Gibraltar bestows means that we are well-placed to provide full family office type services to our clients. 

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Not all our clients will require such full-on services but for those that do, Acquarius can provide the widest range of bespoke, individually crafted services, depending on the family’s requirements where I would advocate planning very regular in-person meetings from the outset. Contact me or one of my colleagues for a no obligation conversation about how your family’s needs might be satisfied in Gibraltar.