A multi-family office is a firm that provides family office services, such as investment oversight, planning, estate and tax coordination, consolidated reporting and family governance, to a number of wealthy families, sharing the cost of a professional team that each family might not want to build alone. A private bank also serves wealthy clients, but it is part of a larger financial institution and typically earns money from banking, lending, custody and its own products as well as from advice. The difference is mostly about incentives and scope.

What a Multi-Family Office Does

  • Investment strategy, manager selection and oversight
  • Consolidated reporting across all accounts, entities and providers
  • Coordination of estate, tax, legal and insurance advisors
  • Family governance, meetings and next-generation education
  • Philanthropy and legacy planning
  • Review of providers’ services and fees

Like a single family office, a multi-family office tends to take a holistic view. The difference is that it serves many families, which spreads the cost of running the firm.

What a Private Bank Does

A private bank offers wealthy clients banking, lending, custody, trust services and investment management, usually through the bank’s own platform. That integration is convenient, and lending in particular can be valuable. But the bank earns revenue from several parts of the relationship, and its advisors may be expected to use the bank’s products and services.

Multi-Family Office vs. Private Bank

  • Ownership: an independent multi-family office is typically owned by its partners; a private bank is part of a financial institution.
  • Revenue: an independent multi-family office is paid by client fees; a private bank may also earn from lending, custody, products and transactions.
  • Product choice: an independent firm can recommend any manager; a bank may favor its own platform.
  • Custody: an independent firm works with the family’s chosen custodians; a bank usually holds assets itself.
  • Scope: a multi-family office oversees all of a family’s providers, including banks; a bank focuses on the assets and services it provides.

Not Every “Multi-Family Office” Is Independent

The term has become popular, and some operations that use it are affiliated with large financial institutions. Families should check each firm’s ownership and compensation in its Form ADV, available on adviserinfo.sec.gov, and confirm that it acts as a fiduciary on every service.

Family Office vs. Wealth Management

“Wealth manager” covers many business models: private banks, trust companies, brokerage firms, financial planners and family offices. Family office services usually go beyond investments to include coordination of the family’s other advisors, reporting on everything the family owns, and support for governance and succession.

Who Uses a Multi-Family Office?

Families with substantial, complex wealth, often across several entities, trusts, generations or countries, who want coordinated oversight without building and managing their own office. Many also keep relationships with one or more private banks for lending and banking.

How WE Family Offices Works With Families and Their Banks

WE Family Offices works with families, family offices and trustees to manage, organize and advise on their wealth for generations. Our only role is to advise our clients, either as their family office or as an extension of an existing one.

There is no need for a family to change banks. Acting as the family’s advocate, we work with each provider to make sure it is working in the family’s best interest, and through consolidated reporting we review transactions, confirm pricing, review commissions and identify errors. We are paid only by our clients, with no commissions or incentives from any financial firm, and we are non-discretionary, so families stay in control of their decisions.

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