The report – which surveyed 338 FOs globally with 21% of respondents hailing from the Asia Pacific region – found that nearly 40% decreased their weighting in cash, compared to 30% in North America.
Meanwhile, 48% of FOs in the region had a positive outlook for global developed equities and private equity (PE) funds.
The report also showed that FOs had interest in a wide range of activities across mergers and acquisitions (M&A), including strategic acquisitions (20%), joint ventures (23%), mergers (14%) and divestitures (9%).
Direct investing activity was the highest in Asia Pacific, with 69% of respondents reporting increased and significantly increased activity. The results also showed that 49% of FOs in this region had a positive outlook for direct PE.
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FOs across the region are leading in best practices. The results showed that 75% of respondents separate the FO from their family business and 51% have a leadership succession plan. Furthermore, 74% of the respondents said they were well or very well prepared for leadership transitions.
The main challenges identified for FOs in Asia Pacific were costs (45%) and regulatory compliance (48%). According to the report, this may be because the FO industry is relatively new and growing rapidly in the region. Further to the report, US-China relations were a top concern for Asia Pacific (52%).
Looking ahead, the report found that 63% of respondents from Asia Pacific expected their portfolio to increase by 10% or more in the coming year, the highest relative to other regions.
