Family office insights this week:

• A 5-minute guide to effective family office governance

• 13 corporate governance red flags to look for

• Are $6.2 trillion of family office assets managed in Excel?

• Gangsters, corruption and the Olympics

• Want to manage a £1bn family office property portfolio?

Better Governance, Better Family Offices

The essentials of family office corporate governance

Corporate governance is not glamorous, it conjures images of grey-suited compliance officers obsessing over procedures and protocols.

But failures in corporate governance can be fatal and family offices are particularly at risk

A key family office USP is their informality. Family offices are seldom weighed down by formal bureaucracies or processes. They can be flexible and nimble. This comes with major advantages:

• families can outmaneuver more stolid competitors

• they can sign opportunistic deals

• they can make decisions at lightning speed

• employees can operate without cumbersome corporate policies holding them back.

But with these advantages come risks. If due attention is not paid to corporate governance, the pack of cards can come tumbling down very quickly.

Failures in corporate governance almost inevitably lead to failures in business. That failure may not happen immediately, but risks can compound and undermine everything the family is working towards.

Effective corporate governance is the backbone of a successful family office. It ensures accountability, transparency, and sound decision-making processes.

The best family office leaders will ensure that their family office implements effective corporate governance measures.

This is an extensive theme, but I’ve compiled a short yet practical guide for family offices that gives an overview on everything from creating governance structures, setting policies and procedures and ensuring succession planning.

Read The 5-Minute Guide To Family Office Governance here.

𝕏 highlights

On the subject of family office governance…

Family office returns… what are you targeting?

Meanwhile, Succession will be playing out in a US court in September.

 💼 where to work

Three notable family office job opportunities currently open…

Family Office Services Manager - Avantia (Multi-Family Office / Washington) 

Chief Of Staff - Cragston Management Corp (Single Family Office / New York)

Property Director ($1bn portfolio) - Private Family Office (Single Family Office / London)

📚 what to read

With the Olympics starting in Paris today, there’s a theme to the recommendations this week. Legacy by Michael Gillard tells the true story of how London gangsters and crime networks infiltrated lucrative construction contracts and cashed in on the London Olympics.

📺 what to watch

And here is one of my favorite TED Talks.. as records tumble, are Olympians evolving?

And finally…

Last week I asked about family office tech. What tech family offices are using, for what purpose and whether they are happy.

Here are the results:

Excel is dominating.

Because it’s Friday, let’s do some wild extrapolations…

Global single family office and multi-family office AUM is estimated at $11.4 trillion by With Intelligence. So if the results above reflect the wider market, $6.2 trillion of family office money is managed through Excel.

 🤯

And on the question are you happy with your tech? Around 75% said no!

There’s clearly work to be done.

That’s all for this week.

Family Office Buzz will be back on Monday (here’s the last edition if you missed it) with more of the best content on family offices and beyond.

Until next week, see you on 𝕏 or LinkedIn

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