Marco Poon joins Michael Macfarlane for a Wealth Office conversation exploring what family offices are really for, and whether the industry built around them has drifted too far from the families it is supposed to serve. With an estimated US$450 trillion held by private families globally, family offices are becoming an increasingly important part of the wealth landscape.

But Marco argues that the incentives of large financial institutions can sit uneasily alongside the priorities of families thinking about governance, succession, philanthropy and wealth across generations.

The conversation begins with a fundamental question: should a family office be structured around investment performance, or around the long-term objectives of the family itself? Marco draws on his own experience as a third-generation member of a Hong Kong busine ...