Goldman Sachs has merged its Ayco and Private Wealth Management family office services to form an expanded family office platform, in a move aimed at serving the wide-ranging wealth management expectations of younger generations, who stand to inherit trillions in wealth.
Ayco, which Goldman Sachs acquired in 2003, provides noninvestment services to family offices and corporate executive clients, including insurance strategies, tax planning, estate planning and philanthropy education. Ayco's family office unit and Goldman’s investment-focused Private Wealth Management will merge to launch the firm's new Private Family Office offering.
Chris Gleason, head of family office solutions at Goldman Sachs, told Crain Currency that Goldman’s internal consolidation is being driven by the “shift from investment management to wealth management.” Roughly $84 trillion is expected to be passed down over the next two decades, with Generation X expected to be the largest direct inheritors of that wealth.
“Having broader services is something that we’re hearing more and more from our clients that are in this younger generation where we believe the money is going to transfer to,” Gleason said. “They’re saying: ‘Yes, my portfolio needs to be managed, I need to understand my performance. But also I want to make sure my broader wealth is unified — my estate planning, my tax strategy, what I’m doing from a philanthropic perspective.’ ”
Ayco’s full suite of services will continue under Private Family Office. Alternatively, Goldman’s Family Office Solutions will let clients pick from a menu of à la carte services, such as cybersecurity, consolidated financial reporting and alternative-investment administration.
“We’re leveraging a third party that provides a digital portal to integrate into our website where you could see all [asset] correspondence wherever the custodians may be,” Gleason said. “And not just the data underlying it, but you could see the investment letter, the capital call or distribution.”