Cover Ahmet KUSAKOG/iStockJanuary 2024Family Office Study 2023 Current challenges, investment trends and the growing importance of ESG criteria2Family offices are becoming key players in the financial world. They are increasingly involved in capital market transactions - and the trend is rising. At the same time, they face numerous internal and external challenges. In the wake of two pandemic years, yet more upheaval has been delivered in the form of global supply chain issues and the energy crisis. And the current market environment with its high inflation, rising interest rates and recessionary developments are significantly adding to the pressure. Given these challenging circumstances, family offices are taking the opportunity to readjust their asset allocation. Real estate and stocks are their main focus, and private equity is also growing in relevance. Current target sectors for their investments are medicine & healthcare as well as IT & digital business models. Family offices are also placing greater focus on ESG criteria in their decision making and are increasing their level of engagement through impact investing. Besides cybersecurity, digitalization, process professionalization and the shortage of workforce, other internal challenges include the need to establish appropriate structures for transferring the business to the next generation of the family.These are the key findings of the latest Family Office Study by Roland Berger and WHU based on the views of family offices and market experts in October 2023.Family Office Study 2023 In a nutshell... Executive summary3Source: Roland BergerThe world has seen the rise of multiple challenges in recent years and their impact is bringing ever greater pressure to bear on organizations across the economy, including family offices. For around 86 % of family offices, rising interest rates and the higher project and financing costs they bring currently represent the biggest challenge (2022: 82 %). While the energy and raw materials crisis was still top of the agenda last year (2022: 89 %), only 47 % of respondents currently consider this a major challenge. That is because many have grown accustomed to it and have adapted accordingly. The same applies to geopolitical upheavals: Their importance is down somewhat since the 2022 study. But they do remain an important issue for 72 % (2022: 83 %) due to ongoing uncertainties around the ultimate outcome and how long the disruption might last. The economy represents a further challenge for 70 % of family offices, with growing signs of a prolonged recession looming. Family offices will therefore need to pay increased attention to which investments can be considered attractive even during a recession. Although developments like advancing digitalization (50 %; 2022: 47 %) and climate change (42 %; 2022: 41 %) have gained importance, family offices ...
