PwC Family Office Location Guide

Your compass for smart location selection

Overview

Selecting or reviewing the location of your family office is a complex and challenging exercise. One that can raise issues spanning reputation, regulatory frameworks, tax regimes, access to skilled professionals, political and economic stability, access to professional services, quality of infrastructure, and more.

To help you make the right decision, this guide offers practical information and guidance on the key aspects to consider when exploring possible destinations for your family office. It includes:

  • Your location assessment checklist: A comprehensive listing of the factors to consider when assessing different locations.

  • Jurisdiction profiles based on eight key attributes. The featured jurisdictions are currently the most popular family office hubs – but we’ll continue adding to the list over time.

  • Our PwC Family Office team profiles, enabling you to ‘meet’ our family office teams in each featured jurisdiction. 

Of course, this guide is no substitute for tailored and in-depth professional advice. But we believe it’s an excellent starting-point for your location selection journey, helping you ensure that your family office is built around you and your specific needs. We hope you find it both useful and comprehensive.

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Eight key factors to consider when choosing a family office location

Your location assessment checklist

Eight key factors to consider when choosing a family office location – and why they matter

Ground rules and legal regime under which family offices located within the jurisdiction must operate.

Body of rules, regulations and laws through which the jurisdiction's government collects taxes.

Availability of talent with skills and desirable attributes for the family office.

Economic and political stability are key for a family office to fulfil its role effectively.

Availability of all the professional and business services that a family office needs to function effectively.

The perception that the international community has of a given jurisdiction under a range of various criteria.

The rules that regulate how someone can live and work in a given location.

Societal norms, culture and customs, international connectivity and living standards.

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Considerations and scenarios

Overlaid on the key factors in choosing a family office location are a number of specific considerations and scenarios that also need to be taken into account. Here are some of the most likely to arise.

1. Proximity to the assets or proximity to the family? Is it more important to have the family office located close to the majority of assets being managed, or to where the majority of the family is domiciled? This may vary from family to family,

2. How good is the location’s access to deal flow in the areas or asset classes where you want to invest? When investing in particular markets or assets, it’s good to be at the heart of the action. 

3. Do you want multiple locations/branches for your family office? We’re seeing more and more large single-location family offices branch out to set up a presence in other jurisdictions. Typical examples include starting from an original family office in Switzerland and then establishing satellite operations in Singapore and the Bahamas to better meet investment and/or personal needs.

4. What will the structure and governance of your family office look like? For example, will you want to have an investment committee or a board?

5. How will you manage compensation and performance evaluation for your family office staff in the location? What’s the benchmark in that jurisdiction for a similar position? And how do you evaluate the success of the people employed? This may depend partly on the asset classes they are managing: with real estate you are probably looking for long-term returns, while if you’re investing in cryptocurrencies or hedge funds you may have a shorter-term investment horizon. How can you ensure such priorities are aligned with the performance and risk management systems you have in place? 

6. How will you handle security? This applies to security of all types: digital, physical, data, personal. All of these are key and may be impacted by the choice of location.

7. If you have already in mind who will be running the family office, or who you wish to attract to do so, what is their preference? Where would they want to live and work – and where they would definitely not want to go?

8. Where does the family wish to live and work? Inevitably, this can be a crucial factor in the choice of location should residence in the desired jurisdiction be required.

9. Consider cultural and societal norms and if aligned with your own and family’s value set. Are there any restrictions dictated by religious rules? If you are exploring a country far afield, it is important to ensure that you will feel comfortable with its cultural and societal norms, since in many countries you will be expected to conform to avoid heavy penalties or isolation. 

10. Consider the next generation… would the selected location be acceptable to them? It is vital to take the view of the next generation into account in the decision.

11. As we live in time of radical and fast-paced change, be prepared to conduct strategic reviews of your location at regular intervals and think about agility and flexibility in terms of potentially needing to move to a different location. Locations change and evolve all the time, as does their attractiveness as a family office domicile. 

12. Consider your ability to have a positive impact to the jurisdiction in which you are planning to move to. Giving back to the local community is not only the right thing to do, but can also bring positive impacts both for the family office and the family itself. 

Our advice on how to get started mapping your ideal location

Based on our experience, here are some points of best practice to bear in mind when assessing different potential locations for your family office.

  • Ensure that you and your family/other beneficiaries are clear on what the objectives of your family office are, what are your guiding principles/value set, and what the money is for – and then ensure the family office would be able to deliver on that purpose and objectives in the chosen location.

  • Develop a clear understanding of the key areas featured in this guide. They are all important – although the balance between them may vary between different families and locations.

  • Consult with all family members/beneficiaries to uncover any reservations and understand their individual expectations.

  • Consult with any potential hires for the family office: if they’re not already residing in the location you have in mind, will they be willing to work there?

  • Talk to peers who have already chosen a specific destination and see how they feel about their decision and glean any useful advice they may have with the benefit of hindsight.

  • Think about the jurisdiction’s reputation for integrity and transparency, and how your decision to locate there might play out at home if and when it becomes public.

  • Finally, be sure to conduct rigorous due diligence on the location, and don’t take the decision lightly. Making the wrong choice can be costly!

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Jonathan Flack

Jonathan Flack

Global Family Business and Family Office Leader & US Family Enterprises Leader, PwC United States

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