Family Office Set-up and Governance: Structure, Investment Policy and Controls – Dubai, 22–26 Feb 2027

Programme overview

Technical depth: Conceptual · Practical mode: Case study

Introduction

When a business family's wealth grows beyond the operating company, or a liquidity event puts large sums in family hands, informal arrangements through the company's finance team or a trusted adviser stop being adequate. Decisions blur between owners and staff, investments lack a policy, and risks such as cyber attack, tax transparency failures and conflicts of interest go unmanaged. This Core Concept course equips family principals and their advisers to decide whether a family office is needed and how to govern it. Participants leave with a Family Office Blueprint for their own family.

Course Objectives

• Judge which family office model and service scope fit a family's wealth, complexity and goals
• Establish the governance structure, charters and decision rights that separate ownership, oversight and execution
• Oversee an investment policy statement, asset allocation and reporting that reflect the family's risk appetite and liquidity needs
• Evaluate operating model, staffing, outsourcing and cost choices for a new or existing family office
• Set the control environment for cyber, tax transparency, anti-money laundering, conflict and key-person risk
• Direct the preparation of a Family Office Blueprint for family approval

Target Audience

• Family principals and shareholders considering establishing or restructuring a family office
• Senior leaders running existing family offices, accountable for governance and operations
• Family council and board members overseeing family wealth
• Senior finance executives of family groups managing wealth outside the operating business
• Senior wealth, legal and tax advisers to business families

Course Outline

Day 1: The Case for a Family Office

• Family Office Models: Single-Family, Multi-Family, Embedded and Virtual
• Family Office Purpose Statement and Service Scope Matrix Including Philanthropy
• Family Wealth Balance Sheet: Operating Business, Liquid and Illiquid Assets
• Build, Buy or Outsource Decision Framework
• Current-State Assessment of Family Wealth Administration

Day 2: Governance and Investment Frameworks

• Family Office Governance Structure: Owners, Board and Investment Committee
• CFA Institute Elements of an Investment Policy Statement
• Strategic Asset Allocation and Liquidity Tiering Principles
• COSO Internal Control - Integrated Framework (2013) for Family Offices
• ISO 31000:2018 Risk Management Applied to Family Wealth

Day 3: Designing the Operating Model

• Operating Model Design: In-House Staff, Outsourced Providers and Service Level Agreements
• Family Office Cost Budget and Fee Benchmarking by Service Line
• Legal Structure and Jurisdiction Selection Criteria
• Consolidated Wealth Reporting and GIPS Performance Presentation Principles
• Investment Manager Selection and Due Diligence Questionnaire

Day 4: Risk, Control and Difficult Cases

• Cybersecurity and Privacy Controls Aligned to ISO/IEC 27001:2022
• OECD Common Reporting Standard and FATF Recommendations: Tax Transparency and Anti-Money Laundering Duties
• Conflicts of Interest Policy for Family Members and Staff
• Reputational Risk and Family Privacy Protocols
• Key-Person Risk and Continuity Planning for Family Office Staff

Day 5: Case Work and the Family Office Blueprint

• Business Sale Case Study: Setting Up a Post-Liquidity Family Office
• Multi-Branch Family Case Study: Separating an Embedded Office from the Operating Company
• Service Scope and Model Selection for an Own Family
• Family Office Blueprint Drafting
• Board-Style Review Panel and Blueprint Defence

Skills You Will Gain

• Family Office Structuring
• Investment Governance
• Wealth Risk Oversight
• Operating Model Design
• Provider Due Diligence
• Tax Transparency Awareness
• Cost Benchmarking
• Consolidated Reporting Oversight

Why Attend This Course

• Return with a Family Office Blueprint that the family can use to approve, restructure or reject a family office
• Separate the roles of owners, board, investment committee and staff before they become a source of friction
• Know which questions to ask providers, managers and staff about cost, performance and control
• Compare how families from other sectors and countries have structured and governed their offices

Conclusion

A family office protects family wealth only when its purpose, governance and controls are settled before the money and the staff arrive. This course moves from deciding whether a family office is needed and which model fits, through the governance, investment policy and control frameworks that shape it, to the operating model, costs and reporting that run it and the cyber, transparency, conflict and key-person risks that threaten it. The final day turns that material into a Family Office Blueprint that participants take back to their family for decision.