Asia-Pac family offices underperform European, American peers: survey

FAMILY offices in Asia-Pacific did poorer than their European and North American counterparts over the last 12 months, a study by UBS and Campden Research showed on Wednesday. Family offices are wealth management advisory set-ups that serve the financial and investment needs of affluent families.

The overall investment performance of North American family offices was about 1.5 per cent - which put the region in pole position among the other regions. European family offices turned in a performance that was under one per cent, and those in Asia-Pacific followed close behind. Family offices in the developing economies did the poorest, given their flat growth overall.

The weaker performance in Asia-Pacific reflects the heavier investment in developing markets, real estate, and in venture capital, by family offices here, the inaugural survey showed.

A total of 205 family offices in the world were polled, with 40 from Asia-Pacific, and 10 from Singapore. Global average assets under management for family offices stood at US$890 million.