Family offices

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A family office is an organisation dedicated to managing the affairs of a wealthy family. A single family office serves one family only; a multi-family office serves several families, often on a model close to that of the independent asset manager, supplemented by wealth-planning services. The boundary between these categories is sometimes blurred, and many independent asset managers in Geneva present themselves as multi-family offices.

The services of a family office go beyond portfolio management. They include the consolidation and reporting of the entire estate, which is often spread across several banks, several countries and several asset classes; the selection and monitoring of managers and investments, including unlisted, real-estate and alternative investments; succession and tax planning, in coordination with external advisers; family governance, meaning the organisation of relations between family members, the rules for decision-making and the preparation of the next generations; philanthropy; and personal services, such as the administration of residences, collections or travel.

The family office answers a need for coordination and independence. A family whose wealth exceeds a certain threshold, often set at several hundred million francs, benefits from having a team entirely devoted to it, which sells no products and which can put service providers in competition with one another. The cost of a single family office, which can reach several million francs a year, is justified only above a substantial level of wealth.

Swiss law takes account of the particular nature of single family offices. Persons who manage exclusively the assets of persons with whom they have economic or family ties are not subject to the licensing requirement laid down by the Financial Institutions Act.¹ This exception does not relieve the family office of its obligations under the Anti-Money Laundering Act where it acts as a financial intermediary, nor of the obligations of transparency regarding beneficial owners.

Geneva is one of the principal European centres for family offices, thanks to the presence of wealthy international families, the concentration of banks and specialised advisers, the stability of the country and the quality of life.² It faces competition from Zurich, London, Luxembourg and, increasingly, from the Asian and Gulf centres: according to a recent report, Hong Kong had 2,700 family offices in 2023 and was seeking to attract 200 more by the end of 2025, while Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Singapore offer tax advantages to the investment vehicles of large fortunes.³

Caution. The exception granted to single family offices by the Financial Institutions Act concerns the asset manager licence. It does not relieve them of anti-money laundering obligations where the activity amounts to financial intermediation, nor of the obligations of transparency regarding beneficial owners. Each structure must be the subject of its own legal analysis.

Notes

1. Art. 2 para. 2 let. a FinIA (LEFin); Schellenberg Wittmer, “Nouvelles règles pour trustees et family offices” (New rules for trustees and family offices), newsletter of January 2020, swlegal.com. ↩
2. University of St. Gallen, Institute of Banking and Finance, Swiss Single Family Offices, study published on 4 June 2024 (Markus Schmid, with the Swiss Single Family Office Association and UBS; unisg.ch): the association estimates the number of single family offices in Switzerland at 250 to 300; 70 of the 220 offices invited responded; the sector’s net wealth is conservatively estimated at some CHF 600 billion; alternative investments there exceed the traditional asset classes; 70% hold a family business. ↩
3. “Droits de succession : la Suisse rejette l’impôt de 50 % pour les personnes fortunées” (Inheritance tax: Switzerland rejects the 50 per cent tax on the wealthy), netpublic.fr, 1 December 2025. ↩

For general information only. This article does not constitute legal or tax advice, does not replace advice on an individual case and creates no lawyer-client relationship. It reflects the legal position as of September 2025.