The Cayman Islands is expected to see the strongest growth in demand for family office wealth planning among major international financial centres over the next three years, according to new research commissioned by financial services group Ocorian.
The survey found 51% of family members and senior family office professionals expect Cayman to experience the greatest increase in demand, putting the jurisdiction ahead of Jersey and Singapore, both at 42%. Luxembourg followed at 29%, Switzerland at 25% and the United Arab Emirates at 23%.
The findings come as growing and increasingly mobile families reconsider not only how they structure their wealth, but where they establish family office operations. Ocorian said practical considerations including travel connections, time zones, language and ease of doing business are becoming important alongside tax and other technical factors when families select jurisdictions.
The research was conducted in February by independent research company PureProfile and surveyed 200 family office participants, including family members and full-time family office employees. Collectively, the families represented US$119.37 billion in wealth. Respondents were based in 16 jurisdictions, including the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, Jersey, Guernsey, the United States, United Kingdom, Switzerland, Singapore, Hong Kong and the UAE.
The survey also points to continued growth in family wealth. Sixty-five percent of respondents said the value of their family’s investments and assets had increased over the previous five years, while 35% said values had remained stable. Looking ahead, 85% expect their assets and investments to increase in value over the next five years, including 53% who anticipate a significant increase.
That growth is helping drive decisions about where families live, work and manage their assets. According to Ocorian, respondents ranked a transparent tax regime as the most important consideration when choosing a jurisdiction, but practical issues also featured prominently. Families cited the ability to communicate in the local language, ease of doing business, convenient travel links and compatible time zones as factors in their decisions.
For Cayman, the findings suggest its appeal to international family offices is being considered within a broader shift in which wealthy families increasingly assess jurisdictions based on their suitability for both wealth structures and the day-to-day needs of internationally mobile family members.
After Cayman, Jersey and Singapore, respondents identified Luxembourg, Switzerland, the UAE, Guernsey, Hong Kong, the United States and British Virgin Islands, in descending order, as jurisdictions expected to see increased family office wealth-planning demand.
