For wealth management firms targeting ultra high net worth clients, not providing non-financial fiduciary “soft-side” services is no longer an option.
“These offerings are increasingly becoming a market differentiator for appealing to new clients and retaining and deepening relationships with existing clients,” said Dennis Dolego, director of research for Optima Group.
Indeed, an “enhanced” family office model will be de rigueur for firms competing in the extremely competitive UHNW market, according to a recently released Optima Group white paper on the family office market.
In the wake of the financial crisis, very wealthy families have made capital preservation, risk management and “the responsibilities of family stewardship” their top priorities, the white paper said. “They were going in this direction before the crisis,” Dolego said, “but this change in sentiment has really accelerated since 2008.”
