September News Roundup

Family Office News Roundup – September 2025

Following an August defined by regulatory and tax urgency, September 2025 saw family offices shift from risk assessment to active, institutional execution. The month was characterised by Measurable Professionalisation – validated by new compensation benchmarks – and a High-Conviction, Selective Risk-On investment stance.

Critically, the sector cemented its commitment to future technologies, global operational expansion, and building resilience against macro risk.

Key Topics and Insights

1. Investments & Portfolio Strategy

• Private Markets Commitment: The commitment to private equity deepened, with the largest share of family offices (39%) expecting to increase their Private Equity exposure in the next 12 months, followed by Public Equities (GoldmanSachs.com, CNBC.com).
• Frontier Tech Mega-Rounds: High-profile family offices (including those of Jobs, Bezos, Schmidt, and Druckenmiller) backed mega-rounds in Fusion Energy and Embodied AI, showcasing a highly visible push into frontier technologies and new sources of value creation (FINTRX.com, CNBC.com).
• Digital Assets Go Mainstream: One-third (33%) of family offices now invest in cryptocurrencies (up from 26% in 2023). This asset class is viewed as a hedge against political uncertainty, signaling a transition from niche gamble to mainstream adoption (GoldmanSachs.com, CoinDesk.com).
• Sector-Specific M&A: Family offices demonstrated active sector strategies, such as the Mitchell family office acquiring the luxury retailer Cos Bar, indicating sustained interest in niche consumer brands and direct operational control (Yahoo Finance, Crain’s Detroit).

2. Operations & Human Capital Management

• Talent War Professionalized: New compensation benchmarks confirmed that 84% of family office professionals receive a bonus, and 35% of offices grew their teams in the last year, signaling that performance-based pay is now integral to competing for talent (InvestmentNews.com, KPMG.com).
• Leadership Institution Building: High-profile staffing news focused on institutionalising personal wealth, including Jeff Bezos’ father, Mike Bezos, hiring a CEO to run his expanding family office, underscoring the shift toward professional management (Independent.co.uk, Times Now News).
• Operational Internationalisation: The trend of expanding global reach accelerated, with 44% of family offices now operating across multiple jurisdictions (up from 30% in 2023), driven by family mobility and the search for operational efficiency in hubs like London and Singapore (InvestmentNews.com, PwC.com).

3. Governance & Regulatory Response

• Singapore’s Proactive Response: Singapore is looking to simplify and ease requirements for its single family office tax scheme, a direct response to global competition and a move to reinforce its hub status by simplifying compliance complexity (Bloomberg.com, Straits Times).
• Governance and Structural Clarity: Governance frameworks are being sharpened as executives cite it as their number one challenge. Major family events, like the Murdoch succession, were highlighted as lessons for family offices on structuring ownership and intergenerational wealth transfer (National Law Review, Forbes.com).
• Hub Competition & Consolidation: London hosted a major summit aimed at revitalising the city’s status, while DBS’s multi-family office in Singapore hit $1 billion in AUM, demonstrating that service consolidation and competition are driving market growth (SCMP.com, Straits Times).

In Closing and Looking Ahead

September’s news confirmed that the family office sector is embracing a new era defined by resilience and active capital deployment against a backdrop of persistent geopolitical risk. The shift away from cash and into private markets, particularly Private Equity and frontier technologies, is a clear commitment to long-term value creation.

The professionalisation trend is no longer just strategic advice but is a measurable reality: family offices are operating more globally, standardising compensation, and actively addressing the human capital demands of running a truly institutionalised private wealth operation. The strategic responses from hubs like Singapore and London indicate that the competition for these sophisticated firms will only intensify, making the next quarter a crucial period for policy refinement and talent acquisition.