It wasn't long ago that the term family office only meant something to a few people in Germany.

“The market came into being around 2004,” says Christoph Weber, managing partner of the WSH family office and at the same time chairman of the board of the Association of Independent Family Offices VuFO.

Previously, such services were very sales-oriented and less driven by the idea of ​​offering a service that included the strategic allocation, management and controlling of assets.

Martin Hock

Editor in business.

  • Follow I follow

“Our approach is very puristic,” says Weber. “There is no juxtaposition of commissions and fees, only the pure fee for maintaining the family office.” Even though WSH now provides services for twelve families, it does not see itself as a multi-family office. For each family, one appears rather as a single family office. Everyone guesses that there is no self-interest on the part of the Office in this way.

"If a family is faced with the question of whether they should set up their own office or join a multi-family office, it depends on the one hand on the amount of assets, but on the other hand on whether they are independent or cross-fertilization prefers a multi-office, ”says Weber. Institutionalized offices could score points with their own asset management or their own research. VuFO has made it its business to raise awareness of conflicts of interest. Multi-family offices are often difficult to distinguish from other financial service providers.

For WSH, the focus is on strategic asset allocation.

Tasks are the development of investment guidelines, the selection of asset managers, the research of real estate or the examination of investments.

The respective allocation would then have to match the needs of the family.

Accountability and information for clients are also very important, for example through quarterly closed meetings or even through fixed weekly telephone calls.

“Because the wealthy are basically handing over the entire management,” says Weber.

Even if the topic of inflation is currently attracting attention from customers, others are in the foreground, says Weber and mentions, among other things, the demographic development and the stability of the euro.

But of course a possible wealth tax is also a concern for customers.