There have been significant portfolio shifts from cash to risk assets this year among family offices (FOs), with 68% of those in Asia Pacific increasing their allocations into public equity, the highest percentage compared to other regions.
According to Citi’s Global Family Office Survey 2024, FOs in Asia Pacific have “led the way” in deploying more to public equity.
The report – which surveyed 338 FOs globally with 21% of respondents hailing from the Asia Pacific region – found that nearly 40% decreased their weighting in cash, compared to 30% in North America.
Meanwhile, 48% of FOs in the region had a positive outlook for global developed equities and private equity (PE) funds.
The report also showed that FOs had interest in a wide range of activities across mergers and acquisitions (M&A), including strategic acquisitions (20%), joint ventures (23%), mergers (14%) and divestitures (9%).
Direct investing activity was the highest in Asia Pacific, with 69% of respondents reporting increased and significantly increased activity. The results also showed that 49% of FOs in this region had a positive outlook for direct PE.
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FOs across the region are leading in best practices. The results showed that 75% of respondents separate the FO from their family business and 51% have a leadership succession plan. Furthermore, 74% of the respondents said they were well or very well prepared for leadership transitions.
The main challenges identified for FOs in Asia Pacific were costs (45%) and regulatory compliance (48%). According to the report, this may be because the FO industry is relatively new and growing rapidly in the region. Further to the report, US-China relations were a top concern for Asia Pacific (52%).
Looking ahead, the report found that 63% of respondents from Asia Pacific expected their portfolio to increase by 10% or more in the coming year, the highest relative to other regions.
