Establishing a family office in the UK for an overseas family

Running a UK family office has unique issues, says Irwin Mitchell Private Wealth’s Alex Ruffel

Regulation: The UK regulates certain investment activities carried out in relation to specified investments, says Ruffel, who is a partner at Irwin Mitchell Private Wealth.

Authorisation from the UK regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority, is required before a person/firm can carry out such “regulated activities” in the UK. The regulated activities most often encountered in the functioning of a family office (dependant on several factors including where it opts to locate each investment function) include:

Managing investment assets belonging to another person, where the management involves the exercise of discretion;
Providing advice regarding the merits of buying or selling investments;
Arranging for investments to be bought and sold;
Managing (or operating) an investment fund; and
Dealing as principal, when carried out in relation to investments such as shares, bonds, units in funds and options, futures or contracts for differences.

There are other regulated activities that could be relevant but these five are most likely to be part of any family office activity.