Question 1

What is the best family office structure for my family?

Accepted Answer

The right structure follows from three things: the size and complexity of the assets, how involved the family wants to be, and how much privacy and control it needs. The main options are: Private office or outsourced family office: a senior adviser coordinates banks, managers, lawyers and reporting on the family’s behalf, with a light budget and a fast set-up. Multi-family office: shared infrastructure and investment capability for families who want institutional services without building a team. Single family office: a dedicated entity and team, justified when the assets, the complexity and the family’s ambitions support the fixed cost. Hybrid model: a small in-house core for oversight and decisions, with investment, accounting and legal work outsourced. We start with a diagnostic of the family’s assets, objectives and governance, compare the options on cost, control and continuity, and then design and set up the chosen model with its governance and reporting.

Question 2

What are the options for our family business?

Accepted Answer

Every family business eventually faces the same decision: keep, grow, share or sell. The realistic options usually include: Keeping the business and professionalising it: an independent board, non-family management where needed, and clear dividend and employment policies. Bringing in a partner or minority investor to fund growth. Reorganising ownership through a holding company and a shareholder agreement with rules for entry, exit and transfer. Preparing a full or partial sale. We set out what each option means for control, value, liquidity and family harmony, so that the family makes the choice deliberately and together.

Question 3

We need a lead partner. Can you take that role?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Many families and owners work with several banks, lawyers, tax advisers and managers, and no single person holds the whole picture. As lead partner we act as the single senior point of contact: we hold the overall plan, brief and coordinate the specialists, prepare each decision and follow it through to completion. We work for the family alone, independent of any bank or product provider, and stay alongside you across successive decisions.

Question 4

How can you improve our quality of life, beyond investment management?

Accepted Answer

Wealth brings decisions, paperwork and people to manage. We take that weight off the family with: One consolidated view of assets, entities and obligations. A single point of contact coordinating banks, advisers, property and administration. Decisions prepared in advance, with options and consequences set out clearly. Time and structure for the family subjects that matter most: the next generation, philanthropy and succession. The result is time, clarity and the confidence that nothing important is being missed.

Question 5

How can I protect what I pass to my children if their marriage breaks down?

Accepted Answer

Protection is built in advance, through how assets are given, held and documented. The usual tools, used together with family lawyers in each relevant country, are: A marital agreement or prenuptial contract adapted to the couple’s matrimonial regime. Clear records of what each child received by gift or inheritance, with those assets kept separate from joint assets. Holding family assets through a company, foundation or trust with rules on who may own, transfer or benefit. A family shareholder agreement that restricts transfers outside the family and provides buy-back mechanisms. In Switzerland, for example, under the default matrimonial regime (participation in acquired property), assets received by inheritance or gift remain the recipient’s own property, while the income they generate can fall into the shared property unless a marital contract provides otherwise. Rules differ widely between countries, so each structure is reviewed jurisdiction by jurisdiction. These conversations are delicate. We handle them with discretion and with respect for every member of the family.

Question 6

Can you guide the transition of leadership across generations and advise the next generation?

Accepted Answer

Yes. A succession works when three things are prepared in parallel: the business (roles, governance and a credible management plan), the ownership (who holds what, and how voting and dividends work) and the people (the readiness and wishes of each family member). We help the current generation set the timetable and the criteria, assess and mentor successors, define the roles of family and non-family executives, and stay alongside the next generation as a sounding board once they take over.

Question 7

How should we structure our business across jurisdictions?

Accepted Answer

A cross-border structure should be as simple as the business allows and robust enough to last. We look at: Where the holding company sits, and its substance there. Tax treaties, withholding taxes and reporting obligations such as the Common Reporting Standard. Banking access and the practicalities of running accounts across countries. Succession and inheritance rules in each country where the family lives or holds assets, including forced-heirship regimes. Governance: who decides, and how each entity reports to the family. We design the structure with your tax advisers and lawyers, oversee its set-up and keep it clean as the business grows, across Switzerland, Europe, the UAE and the wider GCC.

Question 8

How do I plan an exit?

Accepted Answer

Start two to three years before the sale you have in mind. Value and negotiating position are built in that period through: Clear objectives: full or partial sale, timing, and the owner’s future role. Clean governance, reporting and contracts, so that due diligence brings no surprises. A business less dependent on its owner, with a management team buyers trust. A deliberate choice of route: trade buyer, private equity, management buyout or a transfer within the family. The structure that will receive the proceeds, prepared before signing. We prepare the company and the family for the exit, coordinate the advisers through the transaction, and stay alongside you once the proceeds arrive.

Question 9

When is the right time for a family constitution or charter?

Accepted Answer

Before it is needed. A family constitution, or charter, is easiest to agree while relations are good and no decision is pressing. Typical triggers are: The next generation starting to work in, or own part of, the business. A planned succession or change of leadership. A sale or liquidity event that changes what the family owns together. Marriages, and in-laws joining the family. The first disagreements over dividends, roles or employment. The charter sets out the family’s values, how decisions are made, who may work in the business and on what terms, and how disputes are resolved. We facilitate the process across generations and keep the document short and practical, so the family uses it.

Question 10

How do we hold difficult conversations within the family? Can you accompany us?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Conversations about money, roles, succession or fairness are easier with an experienced, neutral person in the room. We prepare each conversation with the people involved, agree ground rules, separate business questions from family ones, and keep the discussion focused on decisions. Where the situation calls for it, we work alongside mediators, psychologists or family-business specialists. Everything said stays confidential.

Question 11

Can you join our board to help with a restructuring?

Accepted Answer

Yes. We take independent board seats and board adviser roles, and step into interim executive positions when the situation requires hands-on leadership. On the board, our role is to bring an independent view, challenge the plan, protect the interests of all shareholders, and see the restructuring through: cash, costs, financing, stakeholders and people. Each mandate is defined at the outset, with a clear scope, duration and reporting line.

Question 12

How do we implement good governance and prevent fraud?

Accepted Answer

Good governance and fraud prevention rest on the same foundations: Clear decision rights, and a board or committee that oversees management. Segregation of duties, dual signatures and controlled access to bank accounts and payments. A policy for related-party transactions and conflicts of interest. Regular, independent review of the accounts, with an audit committee where the size of the business justifies it. A confidential channel for raising concerns. We assess existing governance and controls, design the improvements and help implement them. Where value has already gone missing, we lead the investigation with forensic and legal specialists and help the owners regain control.

Question 13

Which reporting and consolidation software suits our family office?

Accepted Answer

It depends on what the family owns. A family whose wealth sits mainly in investment portfolios needs strong aggregation of data from several banks, with performance and risk reporting. A family whose wealth sits mainly in operating companies and real estate needs consolidation first: entity accounting, intercompany flows and a group view across countries. We map the assets, entities and reporting needs, and define what the family, its board and its advisers must see. We shortlist and compare platforms against that brief, including data feeds from the family’s banks. We set a deployment model built for sensitive family data, such as a private cloud with customer-managed encryption keys. We oversee implementation and the first reporting cycles.

Question 14

We are US citizens inheriting a family business or property abroad. What should we plan for?

Accepted Answer

US citizens are taxed on their worldwide income and are subject to specific rules on foreign companies and trusts, so inheriting foreign operating assets calls for planning before and after the transfer. The main points we work through with US tax counsel are: The tax basis of the inherited assets, and how to preserve it. Controlled foreign corporation rules, including GILTI and Subpart F, which can tax company profits before they are distributed. Entity classification choices for the foreign companies. Reporting obligations for foreign accounts, companies and trusts. Long-term wealth-transfer structures for the following generations. We coordinate the US and local advisers so that the operating business, the family’s governance and the tax plan move together.

Question 15

Can you help us establish a bank or another licensed financial institution?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Establishing a bank, an asset manager or another regulated institution is a multi-year project that regulators judge on the quality of the plan and of the people. We support founders and sponsors with: The business plan, operating model and capital plan. The licence application and the dialogue with the regulator, together with specialist legal counsel. Governance: board composition, committees, and the risk and compliance functions. Recruitment of key executives and the set-up of operations and technology.

Question 16

Our business is under pressure. How do you approach a turnaround?

Accepted Answer

Speed and facts come first. In the first weeks we secure cash visibility, identify where value is being lost, and stabilise relations with banks, suppliers and staff. We then set out the strategic options, from cost and operational restructuring to repositioning the business model, test each one with a financial model, and agree a plan with the owners and the board. We can lead the plan from the board or as interim executives, and we stay until the business is stable and handed back to its management.

Question 17

We suspect the people managing our family’s money of mismanagement or fraud. What should we do?

Accepted Answer

Act quickly and quietly. The first priorities are: Secure control: review bank mandates, signatory powers and system access, and restrict them where needed. Preserve evidence: statements, contracts, emails and investment files. Stop further losses on the live portfolio while the review runs. Commission an independent review of transactions, fees, valuations and related parties, with forensic and legal specialists. We lead the investigation and the recovery effort for the family, coordinate lawyers and forensic accountants, and then rebuild governance to prevent a recurrence. Everything is handled with complete discretion.

Question 18

Can you find, or act as, a mentor for my son or daughter, or a sounding board for me?

Accepted Answer

Yes. A mentor outside the family often has the freedom to say what a parent cannot. For the next generation, we act as mentors ourselves or find the right person for the stage they are at: university, a first role, or joining the family business. For owners and principals, we serve as an independent sounding board over a defined period, and introduce executive coaches where that is the better fit.

Question 19

We want to set up in Switzerland. Can you help, including as a local director?

Accepted Answer

Yes. A Swiss company must have at least one person resident in Switzerland who is authorised to represent it. We take that role for international founders and groups, during the set-up phase and beyond. We coordinate incorporation, banking, accounting and tax registration with local specialists, and give the company a governance framework from the start.

Question 20

Can you help us expand into the UAE and the wider GCC?

Accepted Answer

Yes. We help companies and families choose the right jurisdiction and structure, whether mainland, free zone or financial centre, set up entities and banking through licensed providers and law firms, and open doors through our partners in Abu Dhabi and Dubai and our network across the region. For Gulf families, we do the same in the other direction, for Switzerland and Europe.

The questions families and owners bring to us.

Family, succession and the next generation