Super-rich families look beyond US assets amid geopolitical risks

North America continued to account for the largest share of their portfolios, but many family offices planned to diversify into Asia and Western Europe, according to insights Swiss investment bank UBS gathered from 307 family offices in more than 30 markets.

North America is the only region where family offices planned to reduce their allocation in the next 12 months. Many respondents intended to increase diversification across currencies “amid a more complex, global investment landscape,” the recent UBS Global Family Office Report 2026 said.

That landscape included conflict in the Middle East this year and higher U.S. import tariffs imposed last year.

The surveyed family offices, with an average net worth of US$2.7 billion, were “gradually tilting” toward emerging-market equities and infrastructure, the report said.

Family offices are privately run firms that manage the investments and financial affairs of ultra-high-net-worth families, often with the goal of transferring wealth to younger generations.

Globally, such offices allocated 7% of their investments to China, compared with 52% to North America, UBS said. The share allocated to China has fallen slightly since 2021, but the bank noted “growing interest” in the years ahead.

In North Asia, family offices currently had 47% exposure to North America and 25% to China, UBS said. The bank found that 71% of North Asia-based family offices, higher than the global average, were planning changes to their asset allocations.

The surveyed offices cited “geopolitical conflict” as the top risk, while also noting growing concerns about global debt and recession threats. That has led them to “prioritising diversification across asset classes, currencies and regions,” UBS said.

UBS also found a “notable shift” in currency positioning among family offices. It said 65% of offices expected confidence in the U.S. dollar’s reserve status to weaken.

“More than a quarter have reduced or intend to reduce exposure to USD-denominated assets to manage currency risk, suggesting reassessment of long-standing currency assumptions,” the report said.

That outlook was “driving broader adoption” of multicurrency frameworks, with the euro and Swiss franc emerging as the preferred alternatives, UBS said.

“Last year, all of the family offices were super concerned about global trade tariffs tensions,” said John Mathews, UBS head of private wealth management for the Americas, as quoted by CNBC.

“Today it’s really shifted to geopolitical tensions around the world, global debt, and now interest rates. And not just the short-term implications, but the longer-term implications of these as well.”