Family office services

Tailored support for your unique needs to help you build, grow and protect your legacy

In an increasingly complex world marked by changing dynamics around talent, technology and family business succession planning and a growing focus on purpose and values, a rising number of Canada’s enterprising families are setting up family offices to serve their unique needs. But as they look to seize opportunities, manage risks, create meaningful impact through investment strategies and prepare for the transition to the next generation, the need for family offices to change and adapt continues to grow.

How, for example, can family offices position themselves to make decisions in a fast and agile way? Which leading practices should they adopt in key areas like governance, information technology, investment strategies and recruitment and retention? And at a time of rising uncertainty and concern around issues like cybersecurity, data protection, privacy and transparency, which strategies and tools should they prioritize to ensure the right approach to safety and risk management?

These are just some of the issues and trends facing enterprising families right now. Given this complex landscape, how can you build or reimagine a family office that’s fit for the future?

Key trends affecting family offices in Canada
Changes impacting families (text in centre of circular diagram). Text flowing around the circular diagram: Professional affiliations, Institutionalization, Technology, Managing external relationships, Generational shift, Charitable giving and Globalization.

A human-led, tech-powered approach to supporting family offices

With more than 800 professionals dedicated to serving the needs of Canada’s enterprising families and the businesses they own, we can help you create a future-ready family office to stay ahead of these trends. Whether you’re looking to build a new entity to serve your family’s needs or want to transform your existing family office for what comes next, our human-led and technology-powered approach can help you achieve your goals and protect your legacy. 

We’ll work collaboratively with you to first understand your family’s situation and context and then bring together the right processes, teams and solutions to meet your unique needs. We know the various types of structures families use—from multifamily arrangements that typically focus on managing investments to single family offices serving a broader range of supports to hybrid models in which certain functions are outsourced—and will tailor our services and solutions to fit your circumstances. 

And to help ensure efficiency and agility in a fast-paced world, we incorporate digital solutions that deliver the deeper and timely insights your family office needs in a more seamless way. These include our Cloud Finance service offering as well as our automated investment reporting tool that lets families bring all of their holdings together into a consolidated view so they can better monitor what’s happening across the entire portfolio.

How we can help your family office

A family office should support your family’s strategy and legacy. Key areas where we can help your family office take the weight off you and your family include:

Illustration of a house with 7 key areas: 1) Strategy/legacy: Family vision and charter, Strategic planning, Family governance Family communication, Service offerings and Education plans, 2) Succession: Create estate plans, Organize training, Leadership succession planning, Wealth transfer planning, 3) Enterprise: Business governance, Philanthropy, Insights, 4) Operations: Recordkeeping, Reporting and analysis and Bill management, 5) Technology: IT controls, Cybersecurity, Accounting and investment systems, CRM, Document management, 6) Compliance: Tax planning and returns, Insurance planning, Policies and procedures, Risk management and controls, 7) Investments: Asset allocation insights, Performance and risk insights, Due diligence, Governance

Contact us

Sabrina Fitzgerald

Sabrina Fitzgerald

National Leader for Private Clients, PwC Canada

Tel: +1 613 898 2113

Chantal Copithorn

Chantal Copithorn

Private, Partner, NextGen Lead, PwC Canada

Tel: +1 416 687 8068

Hadielia Yassiri

Hadielia Yassiri

Partner, Family Enterprise Services, PwC Canada

Janice  Agar

Janice Agar

Director, PwC Canada

Tel: +1 604 806 7857

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