Family offices ready to increase their risk appetite, per survey

In strong contrast to their cash-heavy allocations of the recent past, many family offices are now ready to increase their appetite for risk. That is according to a study of 130 family office investment managers in 15 countries, representing more than $62 billion in assets under management, by financial services provider Ocorian.

About 86 percent of survey respondents "are predicting an increase in the risk appetite of their clients over the year ahead," Ocorian wrote. Fully 31 percent are expecting "a dramatic increase" in the same measure. And more than half (56%) of them say there is greater transparency around riskier and more specialist asset classes such as digital assets.

These findings suggest a very different path from what many wealth advisers have spoken about in the past few months, with short-term treasuries seeming attractive amid yields of more than 4 percent annually. Part of that has to do with a majority of those surveyed believing the recent economic cycle is coming to a close: "Around 57% questioned say there is a feeling inflation has peaked while 54% believe markets are over the worst and set for recovery."

The likeliest avenue for that increased risk allocation, participants said, is emerging market equities and investment-grade fixed income, with a smaller amount in US equities and alternative assets.