Morgan Stanley Family Office (MSFO) has had a standout year globally. The judges note that this award recognizes its rare ability to differentiate through services to a segment that is sometimes thought of as more demanding in execution than advisory.
MSFO, led by Daniel DiBiasio, has focused on investment advice services to family offices by creating a boutique-like investment advisory group. The bank offers fiduciary services over the whole of a client’s portfolio and argues that its global coverage – and exhaustive investment reach – enables it to provide advice that is agnostic about both where ideas are sourced and where assets are custodied.
It is not just the judges that find this proposition compelling: MSFO grew its client base by over 100% year on year in 2022 and now has more than $150 billion of assets under advisement, with an average net worth of over $1.5 billion for each client.
This agnostic approach extends to investment management style, with fully discretionary advisory available alongside non-discretionary and consultative relationships.
Morgan Stanley argues that this provides family offices with access to investment opportunities that include co-investment, limited capacity funds, first-time launches, venture capital and other illiquid and early-stage investments.
Family