As a family grows, members may move to other countries or marry citizens of other countries, creating a truly international family. For the family office, this creates challenges in areas including taxes and legal affairs, data security and communication. For example, cross-cultural communication challenges and the logistics of communicating across time zones can both be barriers.
Citi Private Bank’s Global Family Office Survey Insights 2023 sheds new light on international families with family offices. The survey found:
- 55% of family offices hold assets in multiple countries
- 52% have family members with different citizenships or residencies
- 18% have family members who are planning to move to a different country or change citizenship in the near term
There were no significant differences based on the amount of assets managed by the family office. The survey said this “reflects a generally globalized world where internationalization is no longer inherent to larger families.”
There were regional differences, however: Over half (56%) of North American families said their family is not international, compared with only 9% of those in Latin America, 11% in Asia/Pacific, and 14% in Europe/Middle East/Africa.
