ZURICH (Reuters) – Single family offices (SFOs), or private companies set up to manage the wealth and business of rich families, are worth about 600 billion Swiss francs ($670 billion) in Switzerland, according to a study published on Tuesday.
The report, the first of its kind issued by the Swiss Single Family Office Association (SFOA), estimated there are between 250 and 300 such companies in the Alpine country renowned for its financial services.
It showed that operators of SFOs were grappling with the prospect of possible regulation for the sector, and eager to establish rules that could oversee and protect it.
According to the findings, based on a survey of some 70 SFOs that are either in the association or clients of Swiss bank UBS conducted between Nov. 27 and Dec. 18, alternative assets slightly outweigh traditional assets among them. The alternative assets particularly included private equity and private debt.
In geographical terms, asset allocation was mainly geared towards North America, which accounted for 33% of the total, and Switzerland, with 32%.
The net worth of surveyed SFOs in Switzerland ranged from less than 250 million francs to over 10 billion francs.
The survey found that a majority of SFOs supported introducing a self-regulation-based licensing regime to protect and govern the industry. Such a move could get ahead of possible steps by authorities to impose regulation on the sector.
Respondents in the survey consistently pointed to issues relating to the political and regulatory framework in discussion of how to make Switzerland more attractive to family offices.
Some 43% of them reported a total net worth of 1 billion francs or less, and 37% mentioned a figure in excess of that. One fifth declined to answer the question.
The wealth bracket most frequently represented in the study – by 16% of respondents – was 1.51 billion to 3 billion francs.
($1 = 0.8947 Swiss francs)
(Reporting by Dave Graham; Editing by Tomasz Janowski)
