Family Governance
There is a saying which suggests that money doesn’t change your character; it just makes it visible. All the more reason to try to shape your family relationships during your life in such a way that they will also remain intact during or after the transfer of assets. The crucial things in Family Governance are often not the technical details, they are the qualitative factors such as emotions, values and recognition. The aim of MFO Family Governance is therefore to support high net-worth families mentally in this process and to show them ways of preparing for a successful transfer of assets.
What is Family Governance?
Family Governance is the task of a family to agree on how they will handle the assets, what the assets mean to them and what sense and purpose the assets have. It is a question of finding an understanding within the family based on common values. This then forms the basis for managing the family assets and should make it possible to find solutions to any conflicts within the family. It also determines responsibilities for the individual people.
Family Governance therefore focuses on the family and its members. Each member has their own influence on the family with their individuality. The challenge is respecting this individuality as well as supporting the cohabitation, welfare and common values of the family.
Six steps
Six steps – Each family has individual characteristics and should not be pressed into a standardized scheme. In order to find the way through the family governance process, we have developed the following six steps. The family is free in the design and sequence of the individual steps. Marcuard Family Office serves the family as a communication platform, is an independent moderator and accompanies the process on behalf of the family.
Triggers
- The family understanding the process
- Selecting the suitable specialist team (external organisation)
- The desire to cooperate
- Recognising the rights and obligations
- Commitment to the family
Values, aims, interests
- Who is part of the family?
- Supporting the family in understanding the topic
- Recognising and retaining the individual values and aims of the family members
- Strengthening individuality
- Creating a basis for commonalities
Starting point / common denominators
- Where does the family stand today?
- What would the family like to achieve?
- Which responsibility should/can be delegated?
- What does the family want to use the asset values for?
- 12 questions for the family
Family model
- Introduce committees and structures
- Define the roles and function of the family members
- Determining the flows of information and communication channels
- Conflict management and crisis prevention
Measures and implementation
- Determining the support criteria: family/individual
- Succession planning from a legal perspective
- Business governance
- Asset management strategy
- Philanthropic projects
- Building up competence
Living Family Governance
- Living and respecting the values and family model
- Transparency and information about important events and changes
- Regular gatherings
- Continually adapting the model (if necessary)
12 questions for the family
We are happy to support you in your questions about Family Governance. We have 12 questions for you.
About us
We support the family during the Family Governance process. The team has extensive experience in working with families with the most varied of needs. There is no correct solution and our work is only successful if we have helped the family to find its own way. This quality sets us apart. The family will always be supported by two MFO Family Governance advisors.
Jorge Frey
Jorge Frey’s main focuses are the support of clients and families in asset management and succession planning. His special area is value-based Family Governance which also includes, above all, the transfer of assets from generation to generation. As a shareholder and managing partner, Jorge has assisted in building up the Marcuard Family Office after the start-up phase and to further develop the company. His degree of business economist of the University of Applied Sciences in Bern and his international experience in France, the USA and Latin America with UBS and the Vontobel bank contribute to his working out sustainable solutions for families.
Vanessa Fasciati
Vanessa Fasciati has been supporting and looking after families at Marcuard Family Office since 2015. Her special areas are intergenerational Family Governance and advising clients with a focus on succession planning, asset management and foundations. Above all, she also looks after the needs of the following generations (Millennials). Vanessa Fasciati completed her studies in Banking & Finance at Lucerne college to become an expert in Wealth Management with a certified degree/CIWM (AZEK). Before becoming employed by MFO, she looked after families and private clients in HNWI at Credit Suisse.
Frank Nyffenegger
Frank Nyffenegger focuses on the comprehensive and intergenerational support of families. Among other things, he supports families in Family Governance, the transfer of assets and in asset management. He is a business economist and trained at the Bern University of Applied Sciences and portfolio/risk manager (AZEK / GARP) and in 2018, he completed training to become a SDM-FSM mediator. This combination allows him to cater to the very diverse needs of a family in Family Governance. Frank Nyffenegger has been working with Marcuard Family Office since 1 February 2007 and previously worked at Credit Suisse in Switzerland and abroad as a portfolio manager.
Publications
In this area, we list articles and reports which relate to Family Governance and which interested us.
We would also like to refer to the book “Von Geld und Werten” [Of money and values] that Jorge Frey wrote with Eugen Stamm and which was published in June 2019 by the NZZ Libro publishing house. The authors have tackled the topic of asset transfer extensively over recent years.