Due diligence
How families and their offices vet advisers, managers and opportunities before committing.
The FCA gets a date: 2028 for AML supervision of lawyers, accountants and trustees
The Home Office published its anti-money laundering and asset recovery strategy for 2026 to 2029 on 15 September. Buried in 101 pages is a timetable that matters to every private client adviser: supervision moves to the FCA in 2028.
A €17.5m broker fee, a family office, and a ChatGPT search
Nik Storonsky's defence to a yacht brokerage's commission claim, filed at the High Court this month, turns on who found the seller. Introduction fees on passion assets are rarely documented as carefully as the rest of a family office's contracts.
Golden visa interest is up sevenfold. The index saying so counts searches, not applicants.
La Vida's Golden Visa Index puts investor-migration demand at more than seven times its 2016 level. The figure is built from search impressions on the firm's own advertising, and it arrives as Spain and Malta close their routes.
Pierre Mirabaud is convicted in Bellinzona. The bank that carries his name was not a party.
On 8 September 2026 the Swiss Federal Criminal Court gave Pierre Mirabaud, a former partner of Mirabaud & Cie and president of the Swiss Bankers Association, a two-year suspended sentence for bribing a Kuwaiti official and for money laundering.
Diamonds nobody owned: the SEC sues Lugano's founder, and names three family trusts
On 31 August 2026 the SEC filed fraud charges against Mordechai Ferder, founder of Lugano Diamonds, over investment contracts in stones the firm never bought. Three of his family trusts are named as relief defendants.
A £400,000 fee instead of a £2m investment: the FCA closes its Dolfin file
On 26 August 2026 the FCA fined and banned two former Dolfin Financial (UK) executives and moved to ban the firm's co-founder over a scheme that let at least 99 people obtain UK investor visas without putting £2m of their own money at risk.
Victory Capital buys First Eagle for $7 billion. The manager stays; the owner changes.
Genstar Capital is selling the $222 billion manager to a listed consolidator funded by a $3.5 billion term loan. For families holding the funds, the questions are consents, leverage and what $280 million of synergies touches.
Forbes suspends its adviser rankings: the business of being ranked
Forbes suspended its adviser rankings over an undisclosed $6m payment. How ranking businesses earn, and how much trust wealthy families should place in them.
CNBC launches an Elite Advisors list for the ultra-wealthy. Twenty-five US firms, $2.1 trillion, one new ranking to read carefully.
CNBC's 2026 Elite Advisors list names 25 US advisory firms serving clients with $25 million or more. It is another entrant in the crowded business of ranking advisers — useful as a signal, limited as a verdict.
How families should choose their advisers
How wealthy families should vet advisers: reading past the rankings, why recognition across several independent sources matters, and the questions to ask.
Henley drops its millionaire headcount. The 2026 migration report changes method after years of criticism.
The Henley Private Wealth Migration Report 2026 has abandoned its precise count of millionaires on the move, dropped its sole author, and replaced the headline number with a competitiveness score. The UK figure it once put near a doubling now reads as a 15 per cent rise.
What we are reading about family offices
No noise, no selling. A measured take on what's moving across family offices and private wealth.