Despite mounting concerns over wealth taxes and a stream of wealthy individuals leaving the UK, new figures show that most family offices continue to base their operations in London.
According to data from With Intelligence, the UK is home to 259 single family offices managing around US$344 billion. Of these, 52 are run by non-domiciled individuals. While nearly a fifth of these non-doms have departed the country, only one family office has actually moved abroad alongside its owner.
“Even though much of this capital is deployed into international markets, London’s role as the hub for managing it underpins the city’s position as the world’s second financial centre after New York,” said Alastair Graham, director of family offices at With Intelligence.
The trend offers some reassurance to Chancellor Rachel Reeves, whose plans to abolish long-standing non-dom tax breaks and potentially expand wealth taxes have stirred unease among the ultra-wealthy. Although thousands of executives have registered overseas relocations, the family office infrastructure that supports them has largely remained in place.
Labour’s scrapping of the two-century-old non-dom regime last July accelerated departures among millionaires and billionaires, with names such as Lakshmi Mittal, John Fredriksen, Guillaume Pousaz, and the Hoegh brothers linked to exits. Still, London’s deep bench of investment, legal, and fiduciary expertise keeps family offices anchored.
So far, Egyptian billionaire Nassef Sawiris is the only high-profile non-dom to shift both residence and family office, moving NNS Advisers to Abu Dhabi. Sawiris said the UAE’s growing financial importance made it the right long-term base for expanding his portfolio.
