Global Family Office Report 2025 Reveals Shifting Priorities for APAC Principals

Seventy-three percent of family offices globally plan to increase allocations to private markets over the next two years, according to Ocorian's 2025 Global Family Office Report — a finding that carries direct implications for principals managing multi-generational capital across Singapore, Hong Kong, and the wider Asia-Pacific region. The report, drawing on responses from senior decision-makers at single-family offices (SFOs) and multi-family offices (MFOs) across North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, offers granular datasets on family office strategy published this cycle. For principals who have spent the past eighteen months navigating higher interest rates, compressed valuations in listed equities, and intensifying regulatory scrutiny from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) in Hong Kong, the findings land at a strategically important moment.

The reason APAC principals should read this closely is structural, not cyclical. Family offices in this region are maturing faster than their Western counterparts — assets under management at Singapore-domiciled SFOs alone exceeded S$5 billion in aggregate across the Variable Capital Company (VCC) framework by mid-2024, according to MAS published data — and the strategic choices being made now around governance, succession, and allocation mix will compound over decades. The Ocorian report provides a rare cross-jurisdictional benchmark against which APAC offices can measure their own positioning. Understanding where global peers are moving — and where they are not — is precisely the kind of intelligence a principal should share with their investment committee and family council.

Private Markets Dominance and the Alternatives Allocation Shift

The headline allocation finding deserves ing. The 73% of respondents planning to increase private markets exposure cited private equity, private credit, and infrastructure as the three preferred sub-asset classes, in that order. Private credit, in particular, has moved from a tactical hedge to a core allocation for many offices, with average target weightings rising toward 15–20% of total portfolio AUM among the largest respondents. For APAC offices, this trend intersects with a regional opportunity: Southeast Asian private credit markets are underpenetrated relative to North Asia, and deal flow from growth-stage companies in Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines is accelerating.

Real assets, including infrastructure and real estate debt, ranked fourth in planned allocation increases. Notably, 41% of respondents flagged liquidity management as their primary concern when scaling alternatives — a figure that resonates strongly in Asia, where family office structures are often held through holding companies in Singapore or the Hong Kong Open-ended Fund Company (OFC) framework, both of which require careful liquidity planning to satisfy redemption obligations and estate planning timelines. The OFC, introduced by the SFC as Hong Kong's answer to the Luxembourg SICAV, has seen registrations accelerate since 2023, and its flexibility for multi-class structures makes it well-suited to housing a blended alternatives book alongside listed positions.

"73% of family offices globally plan to increase private markets allocations over the next two years — with private credit emerging as the fastest-growing sub-asset class." — Ocorian 2025 Global Family Office Report

Governance and Succession: The Structural Vulnerabilities Exposed

Perhaps the most sobering section of the Ocorian report concerns governance maturity. Only 38% of surveyed family offices reported having a fully documented succession plan that had been stress-tested with legal counsel. A further 29% had informal succession arrangements, while the remaining third acknowledged no formal plan existed. These figures align with what advisers in Singapore and Hong Kong routinely observe in practice: governance frameworks often lag asset growth by a generation. The risk is not abstract — in jurisdictions such as Singapore, where the MAS requires SFO structures to demonstrate fit-and-proper governance as part of licensing exemption criteria, an undocumented succession framework creates regulatory as well as familial exposure.

The report also highlighted a growing divide between first-generation principals, who tend to concentrate decision-making authority, and next-generation family members, who increasingly expect structured involvement in investment oversight and philanthropic direction. Sixty-two percent of respondents with assets above USD 500 million reported active next-gen engagement programs, compared to only 31% of offices below that threshold. This bifurcation matters in Asia, where the first wave of tech and manufacturing wealth is now transitioning to second-generation custodians who have often been educated abroad and return with different risk tolerances, ESG expectations, and communication styles.

Regulatory Complexity Is Reshaping Jurisdictional Choices

Regulatory overhead is now the second most-cited operational challenge for family offices globally, behind talent acquisition. The Ocorian data shows 58% of respondents describing the regulatory environment as "significantly more complex" than five years ago. In Asia, this complexity is layered: Singapore's MAS has tightened the conditions under which SFOs can claim exemption from the Securities and Futures Act's licensing requirements, most recently through updated guidelines that require more granular disclosure of beneficial ownership and AML/CFT controls. Hong Kong's SFC has similarly introduced enhanced due diligence expectations for family office structures holding Type 9 (asset management) licences.

Dubai's DIFC has emerged as a credible third node for APAC families with Middle Eastern commercial interests or who seek a neutral domicile for holding structures. The DIFC's Family Wealth Centre, launched in 2023, offers a bespoke framework for family constitutions and succession planning that sits outside the standard UAE civil code — a meaningful structural advantage for families with cross-border assets spanning Asia and the Gulf. Principals considering a multi-jurisdictional structure should note that the VCC in Singapore, the OFC in Hong Kong, and the DIFC's prescribed company framework each carry distinct tax treaty access, reporting obligations, and operational costs that require side-by-side analysis before commitment.

The comparison below summarises the key structural considerations across the three primary APAC-adjacent jurisdictions:

• Singapore VCC: Sub-fund segregation, MAS oversight, access to Singapore's 90+ tax treaties, minimum S$250,000 paid-up capital per sub-fund, suitable for multi-strategy SFOs
• Hong Kong OFC: SFC-regulated, umbrella structure with segregated liability, eligible for the Hong Kong-China CEPA benefits, increasingly used for private equity and credit mandates
• DIFC Prescribed Company: Zero corporate tax on qualifying income, DIFC courts jurisdiction, Family Wealth Centre overlay for succession, preferred by families with GCC operating businesses
• Cayman SPC: Still widely used for offshore pooling, but faces increased FATCA/CRS reporting scrutiny and reputational headwinds with institutional co-investors

Talent Scarcity Is Forcing Structural Innovation

Talent acquisition and retention ranked as the single most acute operational challenge in the Ocorian survey, cited by 64% of respondents. For Asia-based offices, the challenge is compounded by a shallow regional talent pool for senior investment professionals with family office-specific experience — most candidates come from private banking, asset management, or private equity backgrounds that require meaningful onboarding to adapt to the governance and relationship dynamics of a family office context. Average total compensation for a Chief Investment Officer at an APAC single-family office with AUM above USD 1 billion now exceeds USD 800,000 annually, according to market data from specialist recruiters, placing family offices in direct competition with sovereign wealth funds and large asset managers.

In response, several larger APAC offices have moved toward a hybrid staffing model: a lean internal team of three to five senior professionals supported by a network of retained external advisers across legal, tax, investment, and philanthropy. This model reduces fixed cost exposure while preserving the discretion and relationship continuity that family principals value. The Ocorian report notes that 47% of surveyed offices with AUM between USD 250 million and USD 1 billion now use at least one outsourced CIO arrangement, up from 29% in the 2022 edition of the same survey — a structural shift that has direct implications for how MFOs and wealth management platforms in Singapore and Hong Kong should be positioning their service offerings.

Philanthropy and Impact: Moving from Reactive to Structured

Philanthropic activity is no longer a peripheral function for family offices — the Ocorian data shows 69% of respondents now have a formal philanthropic mandate, up from 52% in 2022. More significantly, 44% of those with formal mandates have integrated impact measurement frameworks into their grant-making or impact investing processes, reflecting a shift from reactive charitable giving to structured capital deployment with defined outcome metrics. In Asia, this trend is most visible among second-generation principals who have studied or worked in the impact investing sector and are pushing for philanthropic capital to be managed with the same rigour as the investment portfolio.

Singapore's Philanthropy Tax Incentive Scheme and Hong Kong's approved charitable institution framework both offer tax efficiency for structured giving, but neither has yet matched the flexibility of donor-advised fund structures available in the United States. Several APAC families have established parallel philanthropic vehicles in Singapore and the US specifically to access the broader universe of US-based impact funds and programme-related investments. The DIFC Foundation structure is also gaining traction as a neutral holding vehicle for cross-border philanthropic assets, particularly for families with interests spanning South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Gulf.

Key Takeaways for Family Office Principals

1. Review your private markets allocation target against the 73% global benchmark and assess whether your current liquidity waterfall is adequate to support increased illiquidity across a 7–10 year horizon.
2. Commission a governance audit that covers succession documentation, decision-making authority matrices, and next-gen engagement protocols — particularly if your office operates under an MAS SFO exemption that requires demonstrable governance standards.
3. Conduct a jurisdictional review of your holding structure, comparing the VCC, OFC, and DIFC frameworks against your specific tax treaty needs, reporting obligations, and succession objectives.
4. Benchmark your CIO compensation against current market rates to assess retention risk, and evaluate whether a hybrid staffing model could reduce fixed overhead without compromising investment quality.
5. Formalise your philanthropic mandate if one does not exist, and consider whether a donor-advised structure or a DIFC Foundation could improve the efficiency and measurability of your family's giving programme.

What to Watch in the Months Ahead

Several regulatory and market developments will shape the operating environment for APAC family offices through the remainder of 2025 and into 2026. MAS is expected to publish updated guidance on SFO governance standards in Q3 2025, following a consultation period that closed in late 2024 — principals should ensure their legal advisers are tracking this closely. The SFC in Hong Kong is reviewing the OFC regulatory framework with a view to expanding eligible asset classes, which could make the structure more attractive for offices currently holding real assets offshore. In Dubai, the DIFC Family Wealth Centre is expected to release a model family charter template in H2 2025 that will provide a practical starting point for families without existing constitutional documents.

On the allocation side, watch private credit spreads in Southeast Asia — if base rates begin declining in H2 2025 as currently projected, the risk-adjusted case for direct lending in the region will narrow, and offices that have not yet deployed will face a tighter entry window. The Ocorian 2025 report is best read not as a snapshot but as a prompt: a structured opportunity for principals and their investment committees to stress-test current strategy against the direction of travel among global peers.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does the Ocorian 2025 Global Family Office Report cover?

The Ocorian 2025 Global Family Office Report covers strategic priorities, allocation trends, governance maturity, regulatory challenges, talent management, and philanthropy across single and multi-family offices globally. It draws on survey data from senior decision-makers at family offices spanning North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, and provides cross-jurisdictional benchmarks relevant to APAC principals.

How does the Singapore VCC compare to the Hong Kong OFC for family office structures?

Both are regulated umbrella fund structures with sub-fund segregation and flexible asset class eligibility. The VCC is overseen by MAS and offers access to Singapore's extensive tax treaty network, while the OFC is regulated by the SFC and benefits from Hong Kong's CEPA arrangements with mainland China. The choice depends on the family's primary commercial relationships, tax residency, and succession objectives — most advisers recommend a side-by-side analysis before committing to either structure.

What percentage of family offices have a formal succession plan according to the 2025 data?

According to the Ocorian 2025 Global Family Office Report, only 38% of surveyed family offices have a fully documented succession plan that has been stress-tested with legal counsel. A further 29% have informal arrangements, and the remaining third have no formal plan in place — a significant governance gap given the regulatory expectations of MAS and SFC for licensed or exempted structures.

Why is private credit growing as a family office allocation in Asia?

Private credit has moved from a tactical to a core allocation for many family offices globally, with target weightings rising toward 15–20% of AUM among larger offices. In Asia, Southeast Asian markets are underpenetrated relative to North Asia, and deal flow from growth-stage companies in Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines is increasing. The asset class offers yield premium over public fixed income and lower mark-to-market volatility, which suits the long-duration capital base of family offices.

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