Family Offices Build International Network as Global Wealth Expands

The effort to connect family offices across borders reflects a sector growing in scale while remaining fragmented and private. The International Federation of Family Office (IFFO), a Paris-based organisation in its early stages, has brought together national associations from Belgium, France, Lithuania and Canada. It says it has also established contacts in Germany, Italy, Switzerland and Singapore.

The initiative comes as the number of wealthy families and the professionals serving them expands. A Deloitte study projects that single family offices will number about 10,700 globally by the end of the decade, up from just over 8,000 in 2024. Deloitte described the group as an emerging “economic powerhouse”. Other estimates put the current total considerably higher, though the article provides no comparable figures from those estimates.

Growth in the ultra-wealthy population has helped drive demand for teams handling investment, banking, governance, legal and other work. Family offices differ widely in age, assets, sophistication and investment approach, so the projected increase does not imply a uniform industry or a single model for managing wealth.

A shared agenda across borders

IFFO president Frederick Crot says wealthy families in different countries encounter similar questions. He pointed to succession in closely held businesses, the transfer of wealth between generations and philanthropy. He also said that exchanging information about deals, executive searches and compensation in family offices could be useful.

Those topics help explain the appeal of a cross-border network. Families and their advisers may face comparable planning challenges even when their businesses, assets and local circumstances differ. A forum for sharing experience could connect national groups and give members access to a broader set of professional contacts. The value of that exchange will depend on whether associations with different structures and priorities see enough common ground to participate.

Crot, who previously led France’s Association Francaise du Family Office (AFFO), said the push for an international body may indicate that a traditionally low-profile profession is becoming somewhat more open. That shift appears measured: families have generally preferred discreet ways to connect, and the federation’s current reach remains limited to a small number of national associations and contacts.

The idea took shape during an AFFO visit to Milan in 2020. Crot and his predecessor have since worked to recruit national organisations. Progress has been gradual, and support is not yet settled even in countries where the federation has made contact. In Switzerland, for example, the Swiss Single Family Office Association has not joined IFFO.

The federation also includes organisations representing multi-family offices, which serve more than one family. That broadens the types of firms represented, but it may also make agreement on priorities more complex. A single-family office is generally a private entity dedicated to one family’s affairs; the range of services and investment responsibilities can vary substantially from one office to another.

Growth brings coordination questions

More networks and organised communities have emerged in recent years as family offices look for discreet ways to exchange knowledge and deal leads. A larger professional network could help members compare practices and find relevant expertise. It would not, by itself, resolve the distinct needs of families with different assets, business interests and succession plans.

The scale of wealth involved is substantial. At least a fifth of the world’s 500 richest people have an investment firm overseeing their wealth, with those fortunes totalling more than US$5 trillion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The figure points to the resources managed by this part of the sector, while saying little about the far larger number of offices with less visible or more varied portfolios.

The family office model has a long history. John D Rockefeller established what is considered the first such office in the early 1880s to consolidate and manage his investments. Among the largest today are Bill Gates’ Cascade Investment and Zara founder Amancio Ortega’s Pontegadea Inversiones.

For IFFO, the next measure of progress is whether more national organisations formally join and whether members find practical value in working together. Its current mix of participants and contacts shows early interest, while the Swiss association’s decision not to sign on illustrates that a global network will take time to assemble. As family wealth and the services around it grow, the federation’s reach will depend on its ability to serve offices that remain diverse and protective of their privacy.