Ranking: Top 20 Family Offices in London

London is one of the two or three most concentrated family office markets in the world, and it is also one of the least transparent. Family offices exist precisely to manage private wealth privately: most publish nothing, disclose no assets under management, and have no interest in being ranked. That makes any list of this kind a description of the landscape rather than a league table, and this one is presented on that basis. For employers hiring in the capital, see our London executive recruitment service.

What follows is an overview of twenty prominent family offices and family office service providers with a significant London presence, grouped by what they actually are — because the sector contains several distinct business models that are frequently, and unhelpfully, lumped together. It is written for people who work in or alongside the sector: principals considering how to structure their own arrangements, professionals considering a move into it, and boards trying to understand who does what.

The entries have been reviewed against public reporting as at November 2026, and several have changed hands since most lists of this kind were written. Alongside the list, this page explains how the different family office models compare, how the UK regulates them, what the end of the non-dom regime has meant for London, and which senior roles family offices hire for. If you are looking to make an appointment rather than research the market, our family office recruitment team works with single- and multi-family offices on exactly these hires.

A note on how to read this list

This is not a ranking by assets under management, investment performance or any other quantitative measure, and any list that claims to be should be treated sceptically. Family offices do not publish AUM. Single-family offices have no regulatory obligation to disclose it and no commercial reason to. Multi-family offices occasionally indicate scale in press coverage, but the figures are self-reported, inconsistently defined, and rarely current.

Nor is it a quality judgement. Whether a family office is well run depends on how well it serves the specific family it exists for, which is not something an outside observer can assess.

What the list does offer is an accurate description of who operates in this market, what business model each represents, and what that means for anyone working in or hiring into the sector. Where firms have merged, been acquired or rebranded, that is noted — the London family office market has consolidated considerably over the past decade and a good deal of published material about it is out of date.

We have also been deliberate about what we include on the families themselves. Everything below is drawn from publicly reported information about the businesses — company announcements, published accounts and mainstream financial press. We do not speculate about private wealth, family relationships or individuals’ personal arrangements, and where a figure has not been published by a reliable source we have left it out rather than estimate it.

What a family office actually is

A family office is a private organisation established to manage the wealth and affairs of one family, or a small group of families. The core functions typically include investment management, tax and estate structuring, philanthropy, governance, and in many cases the administration of property, aircraft, art collections and other private assets.

The distinction that matters most in practice is between the two principal models.

Single-family offices

A single-family office (SFO) serves one family exclusively. It is a private business, usually established after a liquidity event — the sale of an operating company, or a generational transfer — and it exists to preserve and grow capital across generations rather than to sell services.

SFOs vary enormously in scale. At one end sits a small team managing a portfolio and a property interest; at the other, an organisation of a hundred or more people running direct investments, an operating business portfolio and a large property estate. The largest UK examples are effectively investment institutions in their own right.

For anyone considering working in one, the defining features are the long time horizon, the direct relationship with the principal or family council, and the absence of the reporting apparatus that governs institutional asset management. Decisions are made quickly and with less process — which suits some people and frustrates others.

Multi-family offices

A multi-family office (MFO) provides family office services to a number of unrelated families on a commercial basis. It is a business with clients, and it is typically regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority for the investment services it provides.

MFOs arose partly because running a genuine single-family office is expensive — the conventional rule of thumb is that it becomes economically sensible somewhere above £200m to £250m of investable assets, though the figure varies widely with complexity. Below that threshold, families frequently buy the capability rather than build it.

Several of the largest UK MFOs began life as single-family offices that opened their services to other families — a pattern that recurs internationally and explains some of the sector’s unusual culture.

Single-family, multi-family and virtual family offices compared

Between the two principal models sits a third arrangement that has become far more common: the virtual (or outsourced) family office. Here the family employs a very small core — sometimes a single family office director, sometimes a trusted finance professional inside the family’s operating business — who coordinates a panel of external providers: a private bank or MFO for investments, a law firm for structuring, accountants for tax and reporting. It gives a family control and confidentiality without the fixed cost of a full office, and it is frequently the stage before a family builds an SFO of its own.

The table below sets out how the three models differ in practice. The boundaries are not rigid — a large SFO may outsource custody and reporting, and a virtual office may employ an in-house CIO — but the distinctions drive how each is staffed, regulated and run.

For hiring, the model matters more than the size. A single-family office hires people the principal can trust for decades; a multi-family office hires people who can win and keep client families and run a regulated business; a virtual office often needs one versatile senior generalist. We cover the first two separately through single-family office recruitment and multi-family office recruitment, because the candidate pools overlap less than people expect.

Why London

Four factors concentrate family office activity in London, and they reinforce one another.

Professional infrastructure. The advisory ecosystem a family office depends on — private client law, trust and estate expertise, tax structuring, custody, private banking — is denser in London than almost anywhere. A family office can assemble a full advisory bench within a mile of St James’s.

Capital markets access. Proximity to fund managers, private equity houses, brokers and deal flow. For family offices making direct investments — an increasing proportion — that access matters more than it did when the model was predominantly one of allocating to external managers.

Time zone and language. London’s working day overlaps meaningfully with both Asia and North America, which matters for families with genuinely international interests.

And history. Several of the UK’s largest family fortunes have been administered from London for generations, and the institutions that grew up to serve them — private banks, land agents, trustees — are still here.

The counterweight, and it is a real one, is that changes to the UK’s tax treatment of non-domiciled individuals have prompted some internationally mobile families to review their arrangements. The UAE, Singapore, Switzerland and Milan have all attracted attention as alternatives. Whether that represents a genuine shift or a repricing at the margin is not yet clear.

Family offices in London after the non-dom reforms

The change behind that uncertainty took effect on 6 April 2025. From that date the UK abolished the remittance basis of taxation for non-domiciled individuals and moved to a regime based on residence rather than domicile. The government’s policy paper on reforming the taxation of non-UK domiciled individuals sets out the main elements:

• A four-year foreign income and gains regime. New arrivals who have not been UK tax resident in any of the previous ten tax years get full relief on foreign income and gains for their first four years of UK residence. After that, worldwide income and gains are taxed as they arise.
• Residence-based inheritance tax. Exposure to UK inheritance tax on worldwide assets now depends on being a long-term resident — broadly, UK resident for at least ten of the previous twenty tax years — and continues for between three and ten years after leaving.
• Changes to trusts. Non-UK assets in settlements are brought within inheritance tax charges while the settlor is a long-term resident, subject to transitional rules, and the protections that settlor-interested offshore trusts used to enjoy have largely gone.
• A temporary repatriation facility. Former remittance basis users can bring previously untaxed foreign income and gains into the UK at a reduced rate — 12% in the first two tax years and 15% in the third.

The ICAEW’s explainer on the non-dom regime is a useful plain-English summary of what has been replaced.

Have families actually left?

Some have, and several high-profile departures have been reported in the press. The scale is much harder to pin down than headlines suggest. Private-sector estimates of millionaire migration have been widely quoted and equally widely disputed, and they measure different things. HMRC’s official statistics on non-domiciled taxpayers, most recently updated in July 2026, cover the 2024–25 tax year — the last year of the old regime — and showed only a modest change in the number of non-dom taxpayers that year. They do not yet show what has happened since April 2025, and a reliable picture will take several more years of data.

What can be said with more confidence is how the reforms are showing up in family office operations:

• Split structures. Some internationally mobile principals have moved their own residence while keeping investment teams, advisers and much of the office in London. The office follows the people who do the work; the principal follows the tax position.
• More demand for tax and structuring expertise. Families who stayed are restructuring trusts, reviewing holding structures and planning for the long-term residence test. That has increased demand for in-house tax and legal capability as well as external advice.
• A shift in the client base for MFOs. Multi-family offices and private banks that relied heavily on non-dom clients are working harder on UK-domiciled entrepreneurial wealth and on international families who use London for investment management without being resident here.
• Continuity for UK families. For long-established UK families — several of which appear in this list — the reforms change planning detail rather than the case for London.

The honest summary is that London remains the dominant European family office centre, that the reforms have made it a more expensive place for some international families to live, and that the effect on the number of family offices based here is not yet measurable. Anyone claiming certainty either way is ahead of the data. Our London family office recruitment work has seen the change mostly in the type of hire — tax, structuring and governance roles — rather than in the volume.

The twenty at a glance

Before the detail, here is the list in summary. The order is the same as below and is grouped by model, not by size. Status reflects public reporting as at November 2026.

Single-family offices and principal investment vehicles

These organisations exist to manage the wealth of one family. Several are among the largest private investors in the UK.

1. Grosvenor. The Grosvenor family’s interests, including the Grosvenor property business and Wheatsheaf, its food and agriculture investment arm. One of the longest-established private estates in the UK, with major holdings in Mayfair and Belgravia alongside international property and direct investments. Wheatsheaf was rebranded as Grosvenor Food & AgTech in 2021, so older references to Wheatsheaf Group describe the same business.

2. Cadogan. The Cadogan family’s estate, centred on a significant property holding in Chelsea and Knightsbridge. A property-led family enterprise with a professional executive team and a long-standing governance structure.

3. Reuben Brothers. The investment vehicle of David and Simon Reuben, active across property, private equity, technology and data centres. Among the most acquisitive private investors in the UK market. Publicly reported holdings include a London property portfolio, Arena Racing Company and a minority stake in Newcastle United.

4. Wittington Investments. The Weston family’s principal UK holding company, with interests including Associated British Foods and Fortnum & Mason. A family holding company rather than a conventional family office, but one that performs many of the same functions. Wittington remains the majority shareholder in Associated British Foods and still owns Fortnum & Mason. It is itself majority owned by the Garfield Weston Foundation, with the balance held by family members — an unusual structure in which a charity sits at the top of a family holding company.

5. B-Flexion. Formerly Waypoint Capital, the investment organisation of the Bertarelli family, with activity across life sciences, asset management and property. Its roots are in Geneva, and it describes itself as having offices across Europe and the United States.

6. RIT Capital Partners. Worth including with a clear caveat: RIT is a London-listed investment trust rather than a family office, though it originated from and remains associated with Rothschild family interests. It is frequently discussed alongside family offices because of that lineage and its multi-asset, long-horizon approach. As a listed company it publishes its net asset value and portfolio, which no true family office does.

Multi-family offices

Businesses providing family office services to several unrelated families.

7. Stonehage Fleming. Formed by the 2014 merger of Stonehage and Fleming Family & Partners, and for a decade one of Europe’s largest independent multi-family offices. Services span investment management, family governance, tax and trust administration, and philanthropy. Note that Fleming Family & Partners no longer exists as a separate entity — older lists that show both are out of date. Ownership changed in 2026: Corient, the US wealth management group, agreed in September 2025 to acquire Stonehage Fleming and Stanhope Capital, and the acquisitions completed in mid-2026. Press coverage at the time of the deal reported that the combined business would operate under the Corient name.

8. Stanhope Capital. An independent investment and wealth management firm serving families, foundations and endowments, with offices in London and internationally. Merged with FWM Holdings, owner of the Forbes Family Trust, in a deal agreed in late 2020. Like Stonehage Fleming, it is now part of Corient following the acquisition completed in 2026, and its founder was reported as taking on leadership of Corient’s international business.

9. Schroders Family Office Service. Part of Cazenove Capital, Schroders’ wealth management division. Its family office capability was significantly strengthened by the acquisition of Sandaire, agreed in 2020. Sandaire no longer operates independently, and nor does Lord North Street, which had merged into Sandaire in 2014 — both frequently still appear as separate entries in published lists, which is incorrect. Sandaire itself began as the Scott family’s own office after the sale of the family insurance business — another example of an SFO that became an MFO.

10. AlTi Tiedemann Global. The successor to LJ Partnership, which became Alvarium in 2019 and merged with Tiedemann Group in 2023 to form AlTi. Provides investment management and family office services internationally, with a large London operation. Now generally known as AlTi Global, it is listed in the US. Since the merger it has agreed the sale of its fiduciary businesses (to Zedra, below), taken a strategic investment led by Allianz X, and changed chief executive in 2026; financial press reported in May 2026 that it was considering strategic options, including a possible sale, though no deal had been announced.

11. Quilvest Wealth Management. Originating from the Bemberg family’s interests, Quilvest has operated as a multi-family office and private banking group for several decades, with a presence in London alongside Luxembourg, Switzerland and elsewhere. That group no longer exists in its old form. Its Luxembourg and Paris business was sold in 2021, the remaining activities were folded into the Bemberg family holding, and the former parent has been dissolved. A Swiss bank, Quilvest (Switzerland), continues to operate, as does the separate private equity manager Quilvest Capital Partners. We have kept the entry because it is still widely cited, but anyone treating Quilvest as a London multi-family office today is working from out-of-date information.

12. Rothschild & Co Wealth Management. The wealth and family office arm of Rothschild & Co, serving families, entrepreneurs and foundations with investment management and advisory services. Rothschild & Co has been privately held since the family-led concert party took it off the Paris market in 2023.

13. Zedra. A corporate and fiduciary services group with a family office offering covering trust and estate administration, corporate services and fund administration. Structurally different from an investment-led MFO and worth distinguishing on that basis. In 2023 it agreed to acquire AlTi’s LJ Fiduciary and Alvarium Private Office businesses, with teams in the UK, the Isle of Man and Geneva.

Private banks and wealth managers with family office services

These are not family offices, but they provide family-office-style services and compete for the same client relationships. Anyone mapping the sector should understand the distinction, because the businesses, the regulatory position and the career paths are different.

14. C. Hoare & Co. The UK’s oldest privately owned bank, still owned and directed by the Hoare family. Serves families and private clients with banking, lending and wealth services, and is unusual in being a family business serving other families.

15. Kleinwort Hambros. The UK private banking and wealth arm of Société Générale, with a long history of serving UK families and a dedicated family office proposition. Now owned by Union Bancaire Privée: UBP completed its acquisition of SG Kleinwort Hambros on 1 April 2025, and the bank became Union Bancaire Privée (UK) Limited. Its Channel Islands trust company was sold separately to JTC.

16. Lombard Odier. The Geneva private bank’s London operation, serving international families with investment management and wealth structuring.

17. Pictet Wealth Management. Similarly, the London arm of the Geneva partnership, with a large UK ultra-high-net-worth client base.

18. Rathbones. A major UK discretionary wealth manager serving private clients, charities and families, much enlarged by its 2023 combination with Investec Wealth & Investment UK.

19. Close Brothers Asset Management. Wealth and investment management for private clients and families. Note that the business was agreed for sale to Oaktree in 2025, so its ownership position has changed. Oaktree completed the purchase in March 2025 and the business now trades as TrinityBridge; it is no longer part of Close Brothers.

20. Seven Investment Management (7IM). A UK investment manager serving private clients and advisers, acquired by Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan in 2024. The majority stake was bought from Caledonia Investments in a deal agreed in 2023 and completed in early 2024.

How family offices are regulated in the UK

Whether a family office needs authorisation from the Financial Conduct Authority depends on what it does and for whom, not on what it calls itself. Under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, carrying on a regulated activity in the UK — managing investments, advising on them, arranging deals in them — by way of business requires authorisation or an exemption. There is no exemption written specifically for family offices.

Single-family offices: usually outside the perimeter, but not automatically

Most single-family offices are not FCA-authorised. An office that manages only the assets of the family that owns it is often not carrying on regulated activities by way of business for anyone else, and general exclusions in the Regulated Activities Order — such as those for activities carried on between members of the same group — may apply depending on how the structure is set up. That is a conclusion reached on the facts, not a status the office holds.

The position can shift as an office grows. Charging fees to anyone outside the family, managing money for friends or co-investors, being paid for arranging co-investments, or advising investee companies on their own investments can all move activity inside the regulatory perimeter. Well-run SFOs take legal advice as their activities change, and some route specific activities through an authorised firm or a regulatory host rather than seek their own permission.

Multi-family offices: usually authorised and within SMCR

Multi-family offices are different. Managing or advising on investments for unrelated client families, for a fee, is regulated activity, so an MFO will normally be authorised by the FCA itself or operate as an appointed representative of an authorised firm. Anyone can check a firm’s status on the FCA’s Financial Services Register, and candidates should do so before joining one.

As FCA solo-regulated firms, authorised MFOs fall under the Senior Managers and Certification Regime. Their senior managers must be approved by the FCA before taking up their functions, and core-tier firms need a Senior Manager for compliance oversight (SMF16) and a money laundering reporting officer (SMF17) — whether one person can hold both is covered in our guide to SMF16 vs SMF17. The FCA consulted in October 2026 (CP26/37) on moving some senior manager functions from pre-approval to notification; under those proposals SMF16 and SMF17 would remain pre-approved roles. Smaller MFOs frequently fill these positions on a part-time basis, and a fractional compliance officer holding SMF16, SMF17 or both is a common and legitimate solution for an office that does not need a full-time head of compliance.

Private banks

The banks in this list are authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by both the PRA and the FCA. Their family office services sit inside a fully regulated banking group with the banking version of SMCR, which is one reason their culture and career paths differ so much from a single-family office.

Obligations that apply whatever the model

Even an unauthorised SFO operates within a dense set of rules. Most UK trusts, and many non-UK trusts with UK connections, must be registered on HMRC’s Trust Registration Service. An office that provides trust or company services to third parties can fall within the money laundering regulations and need to register with a supervisor. Overseas entities holding UK property have their own registration requirements, and employment, data protection and tax compliance apply as they do to any business. In practice, this is why compliance and legal hires have become a growing share of family office recruitment.

What is actually changing in the sector

Four developments are visible in how family offices are staffing and structuring themselves, and they show up in hiring long before they show up in commentary.

Direct investment is displacing allocation. A growing proportion of family offices invest directly into operating businesses and property rather than exclusively through external managers. That changes the internal skill requirement fundamentally — from manager selection and portfolio construction toward deal origination, due diligence and post-investment involvement. It is the single biggest driver of demand for investment professionals in the sector.

Governance is being professionalised. As wealth passes to second, third and later generations, informal arrangements stop working. Family constitutions, formal investment committees, independent non-executive input and structured next-generation education are all becoming more common. That creates demand for a genuinely rare profile: someone who combines technical competence with the diplomatic capability to work across a family.

Operational infrastructure is catching up. Consolidated reporting across multiple custodians, asset classes and jurisdictions is a real problem for most family offices, and specialist platforms have emerged to address it. That in turn creates demand for operations and technology people who understand private wealth structures.

And the next generation is changing the mandate. Where responsibility has passed to younger family members, sustainability and impact considerations more frequently form part of the investment policy rather than sitting alongside it in a philanthropic budget. How deep that runs varies enormously by family, and generalisations should be treated carefully.

Two further changes are visible in the list itself. Consolidation among multi-family offices has accelerated: Stonehage Fleming and Stanhope Capital are now part of a US-owned group, Kleinwort Hambros has a Swiss owner, and Close Brothers Asset Management has a new owner and name. For families, that raises questions about continuity of relationship managers; for professionals, it means more movement between firms. And residence planning has moved from the background to the centre of many family offices’ agenda since April 2025.

What this means for hiring

Family office recruitment differs from conventional executive search in three ways that matter, and they explain why it takes longer and why standard approaches frequently fail.

The candidate pool is passive and small. Senior family office professionals rarely apply for anything. Tenures are long, the roles are not advertised, and the strongest candidates are approached rather than sourced. A search that relies on advertising will produce a shortlist of people who are available, which is not the same as a shortlist of people who are right.

Cultural fit is a genuine requirement rather than a phrase. A family office is a small organisation working directly with a principal or a family council. Someone technically excellent who cannot work in that setting — the informality, the absence of institutional process, the personal proximity — will not succeed regardless of their record. This is the most common reason family office appointments fail, and it is testable at interview if you know what to ask.

And confidentiality shapes the whole process. Many families prefer their search not to be visible at all. That constrains how a role can be described, who can be told, and how candidates are approached — and it is why a great deal of family office hiring is conducted on a retained and discreet basis.

The roles most frequently commissioned are Chief Investment Officer, Head of Family Office, CFO and senior investment directors, alongside non-executive appointments where families are formalising governance.

Senior roles in family offices

Job titles in family offices are inconsistent. A “Director” in a five-person SFO may carry more responsibility than a “Managing Director” at a private bank, and the same job can be called Head of Family Office, CEO or Managing Director depending on the family’s preference. The functions, however, are consistent. These are the senior roles we see most often.

Head of Family Office or CEO

The most senior employee, accountable to the principal or family council for the whole office: investment oversight, finance, people, advisers and governance. In a smaller office the role is hands-on and generalist; in a larger one it is closer to a chief executive running an investment business. The defining skill is judgement in the principal relationship — knowing when to advise, when to challenge and when to execute. Our family office CEO recruitment work is almost always conducted confidentially.

Chief Investment Officer

Owns investment strategy, asset allocation and, increasingly, direct deals. The profile depends heavily on whether the office allocates to external managers or invests directly: an allocator CIO is a manager-selection and portfolio-construction specialist, while a direct-investing CIO looks more like a private equity partner. Getting that distinction right in the brief is the single most important step in a family office CIO search.

CFO or Finance Director

Responsible for consolidated reporting across entities, jurisdictions and custodians, cash management, tax compliance, audit and often the operating company interface. In many SFOs the CFO also runs operations and is the person the principal relies on most for day-to-day control. Chartered accountants with private client, private equity or group reporting backgrounds are the usual pool; see our family office CFO recruitment page for how these searches run.

Chief Operating Officer

Larger offices appoint a COO to run reporting systems, technology, cyber security, vendor management, HR and the practical administration of property, aircraft, yachts and staff. The role has grown as consolidated reporting platforms and cyber risk have become board-level issues for families. Our family office COO recruitment covers this profile.

General Counsel

A family office general counsel manages trusts and structures, transactions, disputes, regulatory questions and the panel of external law firms. Since the non-dom reforms, structuring expertise has been in particularly high demand. Candidates usually come from private client, funds or corporate practice at leading firms, and the general counsel recruitment process for a family office places as much weight on discretion as on technical depth.

Investment directors and principals

The deal team beneath the CIO: originating, diligencing and managing direct investments in operating companies, property and funds. Most come from private equity, investment banking or corporate development, and the move into a family office often trades fee-driven deal volume for longer holding periods and closer involvement in portfolio companies.

Head of Compliance and MLRO

Essential in any authorised MFO and increasingly common in larger SFOs that carry on regulated activities or provide services to third parties. In an MFO these are approved SMF roles; in an SFO they may be unregulated roles focused on anti-money laundering, sanctions screening, trust registration and governance. Our family office compliance recruitment covers both full-time and part-time appointments.

Non-executive directors and investment committee members

As governance formalises, families are adding independent members to investment committees and boards of family holding companies. These are typically experienced investors, former chief executives or senior professionals who bring challenge without a stake in the outcome. See our family office NED recruitment service for how these appointments are made.

How to hire for a family office

The order in which a family office hires matters as much as who it hires. A new SFO usually needs a senior finance and operations lead before an investment team, because without reliable reporting there is nothing for a CIO to manage against. Our single-family office structure guide sets out a typical hiring sequence as an office grows.

A few principles apply to almost every family office search:

• Write the brief around the family, not the job title. The same title means different things in different offices. Be specific about decision rights, reporting lines, the investment approach and how the principal likes to work.
• Decide on confidentiality early. If the search must be invisible, the role cannot be advertised, and approaches must be made without naming the family until candidates have been qualified and have signed a confidentiality agreement.
• Assess for the setting, not just the skill. Ask candidates how they have handled disagreement with a principal, competing family interests, or a request outside their remit. Their answers predict success better than their CV.
• Get the package right. Family office pay mixes salary, discretionary bonus and, in investment roles, increasingly co-investment or long-term incentives tied to portfolio performance. Our family office executive compensation guide explains how packages are structured.
• Plan for references and background checks. Families rightly want more assurance than a corporate employer. For MFO roles that are SMF positions, FCA approval also has to be built into the timetable.

Our family office executive hiring guide covers the process in more detail, including how to run a confidential search and how to assess cultural fit. Where a family prefers a retained, fully discreet process, our family office executive search service is designed for that. And for most offices, the practical route is to talk to a specialist family office recruitment team early, before the brief is fixed.

Family office jobs: a note for candidates

If you searched for family office jobs and arrived here, the most useful thing to know is that most senior family office roles are never advertised. Families value privacy, and the people they want are usually in work and not looking. That changes how you should approach the market:

• Decide which model you want. A single-family office, a multi-family office and a private bank’s family office service are three different businesses with different cultures, pace and career paths. Be clear which you are targeting before you start.
• Translate your experience. Common routes in are private banking, private equity, investment banking, private client law, accountancy practice (especially private client and owner-managed business tax) and senior finance roles in family-owned companies. Show how what you have done applies to managing a family’s wealth and affairs.
• Expect discretion and patience. Processes can be long, you may not be told the family’s name until late, and you will be asked to keep everything confidential. Treat that as part of the job, not an obstacle.
• Check the regulatory position. For an MFO role, look the firm up on the FCA register and ask whether the role is an approved SMF position. For an SFO, ask how the office handles any regulated activities.
• Make yourself findable by the right people. Specialist search firms are how many of these roles are filled. You can register as a candidate with Exec Capital, and current advertised roles across our practice appear on our executive jobs board.

The firms in this list are a reasonable starting point for understanding who employs family office professionals in London, but they are a small fraction of the market. Most of London’s single-family offices have no public profile at all, and many of the best roles are in offices you will never have heard of.

Frequently asked questions

What is a family office?

A private organisation that manages the investments and affairs of one wealthy family (a single-family office) or several unrelated families (a multi-family office). Typical services include investment management, tax and estate planning, governance, philanthropy, reporting and the administration of property and other assets.

What is the difference between a single-family office and a multi-family office?

A single-family office is owned by and works only for one family. A multi-family office is a commercial business that sells family office services to many client families and is usually FCA-authorised. A virtual family office is a third model, where a small in-house team coordinates outsourced providers.

How many family offices are there in London?

Nobody knows precisely. There is no register of family offices, most single-family offices are not FCA-authorised and many have no public profile. Published estimates vary widely and should be treated with caution. London is generally regarded as the largest family office centre in Europe.

What are the largest family offices in London?

There is no reliable answer, because family offices do not publish assets under management. Among the best-known single-family offices and family investment vehicles are those connected with Grosvenor, Cadogan, Reuben Brothers and the Weston family’s Wittington Investments. Among multi-family offices, Stonehage Fleming and Stanhope Capital — both now part of Corient — are among the largest.

Are family offices regulated by the FCA?

Multi-family offices usually are, because they provide investment services to clients for a fee. Most single-family offices are not, because they manage only their own family’s assets, but that depends on the facts and can change if the office starts serving outsiders, charging fees or arranging co-investments. All family offices are subject to tax, trust registration and anti-money laundering rules where relevant.

Has the end of the non-dom regime affected London family offices?

It has changed the planning environment since 6 April 2025, and some internationally mobile families have moved their residence. The scale of departures is disputed and official data does not yet cover the period after the change. The more visible effect so far is demand for tax, structuring and legal expertise, and split arrangements where the principal lives elsewhere but the office stays in London.

How much wealth do you need for a single-family office?

There is no fixed threshold. A common rule of thumb is that a full single-family office becomes economically sensible somewhere above £200m to £250m of investable assets, depending on complexity. Below that, many families use a multi-family office, a private bank or a virtual family office.

What roles do family offices hire most often?

Chief Investment Officer, Head of Family Office or CEO, CFO and investment directors are the most frequently commissioned senior roles, followed by COO, General Counsel, compliance and MLRO roles, and non-executive directors where families are formalising governance.

How do I get a job in a family office?

Most senior roles are filled through networks and specialist search firms rather than adverts. Decide whether you want a single-family office, a multi-family office or a private bank, show how your experience transfers, and register with recruiters who work in the sector. Expect a discreet and sometimes lengthy process.

Why does family office recruitment take longer than corporate hiring?

The candidate pool is small and largely passive, searches are often confidential, and cultural fit with the principal or family is as important as technical skill. Families also tend to want more references and background checks, and regulated MFO roles may need FCA approval before the person can start.