Insights
The Growing Need for Family Office Services in Latin America
Our Associate Director - Family Office in our Miami division, Lowry Brescia, delves into Family Office services as they pertain to Latin America.
• The Family Office market in Latin America is evolving, with growing demand for clear structures and tailored solutions to meet diverse family needs.
The Family Office market in Latin America is in development mode, according to Lowry Brescia, Relationship Manager, Family Office, based in Stonehage Fleming’s Miami office.
“In the Latin American market, there is still a great deal of disparity in what people mean by family office, she told guests at an Impact and Legacy Summit, co-hosted with Kari Chaudry, Founder of APEX Global Forum who organised the event. “We see this a lot; there is confusion. A ‘family office’ could be anything from two people sitting in an office, a team of five people, or it could be one person.”
Often, the confusion is not helped by the blurring of lines between the structure and requirements of a family’s operating business and their requirements as a family. “I see a lot of families whose family office is a one and the same thing as their business, with staff trying – and sometimes struggling – to act as both,” added Lowry.
It is a model, said Lowry, that isn’t always viable in the long run. “There comes a point where the operating business can no longer sustain the operation of being both, an operational business and a family office,” said Lowry.
“What I have been working on in with the clients in my market is helping them understand what they actually need. Do they need a single-family office? Do they need a multi-family office? Or are they still at the stage where they are looking to fill in some gaps within their current operating model? By first ascertaining what their core objectives are as a family, we are able to help them put the right structures in place to help them achieve them.”
Lowry Brescia was speaking on a panel discussion, held with APEX Global Forum.
She joined Stonehage Fleming in 2022 after having spent five years as Vice President of Operations for a private commercial real estate investment Fund. Prior to this, she spent over a decade at an International Tax Law Firm where she managed the affairs of ultra/high net worth international individuals and families from Latin America, the United States, the Caribbean and Europe.