A blog by the Co-founder of Agreus Group, Tayyab Mohamed.

A couple of weeks ago, I was invited by UBS to attend and speak at the Family Office Labs: Recruiting, Retaining & Rewarding Talent within your Single Family Office event in Singapore to discuss the recruitment, retention, and compensation of talent within the Single Family Office space. The demand for high-calibre Family Office professionals has surged as the number of Family Offices in Singapore has grown exponentially in recent years. As a result, local Family Offices are eager to learn more about how to retain critical talent.

The event was well attended by Single Family Office principals and professionals from the Asia-Pacific region. It featured a panel discussion moderated by Catherine Chow, the Executive Director and Senior Family Advisor at UBS AG Singapore. The rest of the panellists included Valerie Wu, a partner at the multinational law firm Pinsent Masons, CEO and Chief Investment Officer of Singapore-based Tsao Family Office Bryan Goh, Tuck Meng Yee, a partner at Singaporean Single Family Office JRT Partners and my colleague Pierre Pineau, our Team Head in the region.

Mr Goh emphasised the need for compensation benchmarking in his speech. He discussed why Family Offices should be prepared to compensate their staff properly if they expect top performance. Besides, highlighting the importance of a cultural fit, stating that a lot of talent left the families due to misalignment in values.

Mr Yee also shared his insight on attracting talent for Family Offices. Reflecting on his own experience in both the Family Office and corporate world, Mr Yee argued that it is important for Family Offices to realise why high-calibre professionals would choose roles in Family Office over roles in a corporate environment. Mr Yee pointed out that it is in the best interest of Family Offices to offer flexibility in tasks and diversity of work, in order to attract talent from the more standardised and benchmarked organisations.

As the number of Family Offices grow, the need for benchmarking compensation is becoming prominent. Family Office professionals often came from very benchmarked industries and as a result, are accustomed to a consistent and familiar compensation structure. To effectively retain and reward critical talent from these industries, and remain competitive in the talent market, it is crucial for Family Offices to compensate these individuals to the market standard or above.

Pierre and I spoke about the Family Office Compensation Benchmark Report 2023, which we are creating in collaboration with KPMG Private Enterprise. With over 13 years of primary data and an in-depth secondary data-gathering exercise, the report covers all aspects of Family Offices and provides a trusted benchmark for Family Office compensation. Over 650 single Family Office professionals from across the world have participated in the process of creating the compensation report. This allowed us to gain access to valuable global and region-specific data on all aspects of Family Offices. Here are some key findings from the report that were discussed at the event:

  • Vast majority of Asian Family Offices manage $500M – $1BN
  • Many Asian Family Offices are still in their nascency, with over 30% of Asian Family Offices reported to be operating for less than 5 years
  • 11% of Family Office professionals in Asia are offered an LTIP and 82% received some form of a bonus. Among those who received a bonus in Asia, 80% receives a discretionary bonus, significantly higher than 60% globally.
  • 30% of Asia-based Family Offices have at least one other Family Office location, and among that, over 50% have a second location in other cities in Asia
  • Only 64% of Asian Family Offices adopted remote working, the lowest globally
  • Family Office space in Asia is overwhelmingly the domain of men, with Family Office CEOs being almost exclusively male, the highest globally
  • It costs between 10 and 50 basis points for 44% of Asian Family Offices to run their Family Offices

It was an honour to attend the UBS Family Office Labs and offer my insights on Family Office recruitment, retention and compensation. The full Family Office Compensation Benchmark Report 2023 will be released in May and will be an insightful read on how to structure a competitive compensation package for your Family Office. For a tailored conversation about how Agreus can help you identify compensation strategies to attract and retain your talent, please do not hesitate to get in touch with me.