The whole picture
Wealth structuring
The coherent structure the family office coordinates: entities, holdings, residence and succession.
Wealth structuringFamily
office
A family office turns scattered banks, advisers and entities into one accountable function with a single, coherent view of the family’s affairs, run to the family’s standards, not each provider’s. It scales from a light outsourced arrangement to a staffed Swiss entity. The decision that has to come first is regulatory: an office that manages financial assets can cross into FINMA-supervised territory, so we settle the licence question at the design stage and build the office the right way from the start.
At a glance
One accountable function for the whole.
Sized to the family: licence question first.
- Scale
- Outsourced → staffed entity
- Runs
- Reporting, entities, tax, governance
- Role
- Oversees banks & managers
- First question
- FINMA licence position
- Built for
- Generational continuity
The essentials
What a family office is
A family office centralises a family’s wealth and affairs (entities, investment oversight, reporting, tax, governance and succession) into one accountable function reporting to the family as a whole. It ranges from outsourced administration to a staffed Swiss entity. The decisive first question is regulatory: a single-family office managing the family’s own wealth generally sits outside the portfolio-manager authorisation the Financial Institutions Act requires, but only if it is built that way. We settle that first.
Who this is for
- families with cross-border entities, holdings and a business;
- families wanting one coherent view and real governance;
- those weighing a dedicated office against outsourcing;
- families planning a generational transition.
Where it fits
The office is the hub for wealth structuring, succession, and, where activity is regulated, financial regulation.
First things first
The licence question
Whether a family office needs FINMA authorisation depends on how it is built. The answer shapes the whole structure, so it comes first.
| Model | Typical regulatory position |
|---|---|
| Single-family, own wealth | Generally outside the supervised perimeter |
| Managing third-party assets | Likely a regulated activity |
| Multi-family office | More likely to need authorisation |
| Oversight only, no management | Usually outside, if framed correctly |
The boundary turns on whether the office manages assets for parties beyond the family and how the mandates are framed: details that decide the regulatory outcome. Build the office without settling this and it may need a licence it never meant to seek, or breach the perimeter unknowingly. We resolve it at the design stage, so the structure is clean.
How it runs
How we build it
Decide the scale, settle the regulatory position, structure the office, then run or support it, connected to the wider affairs.
- Step 1
Assess the need
Working out what the family needs coordinated and whether a dedicated office or outsourcing serves it better.
- Step 2
Settle the licence
Resolving the FINMA position before design, so the office is built on the right side of the perimeter.
- Step 3
Structure the office
Building the office at the chosen scale (outsourced arrangement or staffed entity) with its governance.
- Step 4
Run reporting & admin
Consolidated reporting, entity administration, tax coordination and oversight of banks and managers.
- Ongoing
Govern & connect
Running the family governance and keeping the office connected to structuring and succession.
Budget
What it costs
Cost scales with the model: an outsourced administrative arrangement is far lighter than a staffed dedicated entity, and the right level is the one whose savings, in tax, in mistakes avoided, in time, exceed its cost. We are candid where a lighter arrangement serves the family better than building an institution.
We scope and quote against the family’s needs and scale. Pricing is on request.
Discuss your family office
What it takes
What a family office requires
A family office that earns its place rests on:
- a real need for coordination, not just scale of wealth;
- the FINMA licence position settled at design;
- the right model, outsourced or staffed;
- genuine governance for decisions across generations;
- a connection to the family’s wider structure.
When a dedicated office is the wrong answer
Not every wealthy family needs to build an institution. A family with a large but simple portfolio, or one whose affairs a good outsourced arrangement already coordinates, can spend more on a staffed office than it ever saves — adding cost, headcount and a regulatory footprint without a matching benefit. The test is whether a dedicated function genuinely saves more than it costs, and sometimes the honest answer is to use a multi-family office or outsourced administration instead. We say so when that is the case, because the goal is the family’s interest, not the largest possible mandate.
Why Goldblum
The office, and what it involves
Settling the regulatory position, structuring the office at the right scale, and running it connected to the family’s whole picture is the work this firm does.
First
The licence question settled
The FINMA position resolved at the design stage, so the office is built cleanly on the right side of the perimeter.
Right-sized
Outsourced or staffed
The model matched to genuine need: candid where a lighter arrangement beats building an institution.
Connected
The hub of the structure
The office run as the centre that keeps entities, residence, tax and succession coherent across generations.
Related
Around the office
The next generation
Succession & estate planning
The generational transition the office is built to carry, planned and coordinated.
Succession & estate planningIf licensed
Financial regulation
Where a family office or trustee activity crosses into FINMA-supervised territory.
Financial regulation
FAQ
Family office: FAQ
01What does a family office do?
A family office centralises the management of a family's wealth and affairs: its entities and holdings, investment oversight and reporting, accounting and tax coordination, governance, succession, and often the practical and administrative side of family life. Instead of the family dealing with scattered banks, advisers and administrators, one accountable function holds it together and reports to the family as a whole. It ranges from a light, outsourced arrangement to a fully staffed dedicated entity. The point is coordination and control: a single, coherent view of complex, cross-border affairs, run to the family's standards rather than each provider's.
02What size of wealth justifies one?
There is no single threshold, because the question is really about complexity, not just the number. A family with assets in several countries, multiple entities, a business, real estate and a succession to plan can justify a structured family-office function at a lower figure than a family with a large but simple portfolio. The honest analysis starts from what the family actually needs coordinated and whether a dedicated function saves more, in tax, in mistakes avoided, in time, than it costs. We are candid where outsourced administration serves the family better than a staffed entity, rather than overbuilding.
03Why settle the licence question first?
Because a family office that manages financial assets can cross into FINMA-supervised territory, and that has to be known before the structure is built, not discovered after. A genuine single-family office managing the family's own wealth generally sits outside the portfolio-manager authorisation the Financial Institutions Act requires, but the boundary depends on how the office is set up: whether it manages assets for parties beyond the family, how the mandates are framed, whether it acts professionally for third parties. Build the office the wrong way and it may need a licence it never intended to seek. We settle that question at the design stage, so the structure is right from the start.
04Single-family or multi-family office?
A single-family office serves one family exclusively; a multi-family office serves several, sharing infrastructure and cost. The distinction matters for both economics and regulation: a single-family office managing only its own family's wealth has more room to stay outside the supervised perimeter, whereas an office serving multiple unrelated families is more likely to be carrying on a regulated financial activity. For most families the choice is really single-family versus simply using a multi-family office as a provider. We help decide which model fits the family's scale and goals, and structure it so the regulatory position is clear.
05What does the family office actually run?
Typically: consolidated reporting across all the family's holdings and accounts; oversight of the banks and external managers, rather than replacing them; accounting and coordination of tax across the entities and countries; governance, the structures and rules by which the family makes decisions; succession and the next-generation transition; and the administration of the family's entities, real estate and sometimes lifestyle matters. It oversees and coordinates more than it replaces: the banks still bank, the managers still manage, but the family office holds the whole and answers to the family. We build and run that coordinating function at the level the family needs.
06How does governance fit in?
Governance is often the real value of a family office, beyond the administration. It is the agreed structure by which a family, increasingly across generations and geographies, makes decisions about its wealth: who decides what, how the next generation is brought in, how conflicts are handled, how the family's intentions survive a handover. A family charter, regular family meetings, clear roles and reporting lines turn an informal arrangement that depends on one person into a durable institution. We help design and run that governance, because it is what keeps a family's wealth coherent once it is no longer one individual's to direct.
07Does a family office replace our banks and managers?
Usually not, it oversees them. The family office sits above the banks and external managers, consolidating their reporting, holding them to the family's strategy, comparing them, and giving the family one clear view rather than a stack of separate statements. It can run a search or a tender for new mandates and hold incumbents accountable, but the investment management itself typically stays with the banks and specialists. This oversight role is often where a family office pays for itself: better terms, fewer overlaps, and decisions made on a consolidated picture. We build the office to oversee, not to duplicate what the family's institutions already do.
08How does the family office connect to the rest of the structure?
It sits at the centre of it. The family office coordinates the entities and holdings, the residence and tax position, the succession plan and any foundation or trust, the things that, left to separate advisers, drift apart. A relocation, an estate plan, a charitable foundation and a holding company are far more effective run from one coordinating function than as isolated projects. We build the family office as the hub that keeps the wider structure coherent, and connect it to the wealth structuring, succession and tax work that surround it.
09Should the family office be located in Switzerland?
Often, but not always: it depends on where the family and its assets are centred and what the office is for. Switzerland offers stability, neutrality, a deep pool of advisers and supervised institutions, strong banking and a central position for cross-border families, which makes it a natural home for a coordinating function. But the location also carries tax and substance consequences for the office and sometimes for the family, so it is a decision to be made on the whole picture rather than by default. For a family already resident or substantially invested here, a Swiss-based office usually makes sense; for others it is one option among several. We weigh the location as part of the design, not as a foregone conclusion.
10Can Goldblum set up and run the family office?
Yes. We help the family decide whether and at what scale a family office makes sense, settle the FINMA licence question at the design stage, and structure the office, from an outsourced administrative arrangement to a staffed Swiss entity. We then provide or support the running of it: consolidated reporting, entity administration, tax coordination, governance and the oversight of banks and managers. Because we also do the structuring, succession and regulatory work a family needs, the office is connected to the whole rather than standing alone. The aim is one coherent, well-governed function the family can rely on across generations.
Considering a family office?
Tell us the shape of your family's affairs. A partner advises on whether and at what scale an office fits, settles the licence question, and structures it.