Family Office Evolution | PCD Monaco Conference 2026

The PCD Monaco Conference 2026 closed with its most forward-looking session: a discussion of the modern family office chaired by Andrew Deane of Deane Consulting, bringing together Oksana Yesina (a former private banker now working as a consultant to two large Monaco-based families through her firm Dea Fortuna), Kateryna Viy of META OCTAV, Mark Henny of Fairwinds International Bank, James Badcock, and Majed Sherbiny, Managing Principal of the Santocedrus Capital family office.

The session's ambition — to examine the evolution of the family office from a "discreet financial butler for industrial titans" to a "sophisticated institutional-grade global player" — was reflected in the diversity of the panel. Sherbiny's Saudi family business perspective offered a first-hand account of what building a single-family office from scratch actually looks like; Yesina and Viy brought deep experience working with families at various stages of this process; Badcock contributed a private client lawyer's view of when and why the structure makes sense; and Henny offered the private banker's lens on where his institution fits within the ecosystem.

When Does a Family Need a Family Office?

Yesina framed the core question with precision: when does a family need a family office? Her view is that the quantitative threshold is around $100 million — the point at which the cost-benefit calculation begins to favour a dedicated structure over private banking. But the qualitative trigger matters more: it is the point at which the wealth outgrows the capabilities of a private bank.

Banks do a great deal — philanthropy, concierge, relocation support — but at a certain level of complexity, they simply cannot provide the coordination and institutional continuity that a multi-jurisdictional, multi-asset-class family requires. The trend she identified is a move from passive, spreadsheet-driven management towards genuinely professionalised structures — with proper governance, investment committees, and dedicated human capital.

Building One from Scratch

Sherbiny's account of building his family's office was one of the session's most resonant contributions. His father, a successful Saudi entrepreneur who had personally managed a portfolio spanning 15 jurisdictions, was not initially receptive to the idea of formalising anything. Conversations about succession planning were met with the response characteristic of many first-generation wealth creators: "God only knows when is the last day."

Seven years of persistent conversation, gradual structural improvements, and careful relationship management eventually produced a genuine family office with investment committees, governance frameworks, and a formal charter. "It took me seven years," Sherbiny acknowledged. "And I consider myself lucky because my father is still alive. The values you get from the patriarch — the actual founder — are invaluable. You cannot recapture that once he is gone."

The Family Office as Buzzword

Badcock brought a lawyer's scepticism to the "family office as buzzword" phenomenon: some families set one up simply because their friends have one, or because a child who has moved to a new city needs something to do and a potential visa justification. "Sometimes people set up a family office when they don't need anything," he noted. The key questions are: what is it going to do, why does it exist, and how should it be designed around the nature of the family and the origin of the wealth?

Technology: Promise and Reality

The technology discussion was among the session's most nuanced. Henny expressed mild scepticism about the pace at which family offices are actually adopting sophisticated reporting technology. Despite the availability of APIs and integrated platforms, many Fairwinds clients still download PDF or Excel portfolio overviews and process them manually. "Of course, it will become more important," he acknowledged, "but I think sometimes it's not as important as we make it out to be."

Yesina described one family office — owners with PhDs in physics, three dedicated IT staff, sophisticated attribution and allocation analysis — as one extreme, balanced against a Saudi family for whom she still draws London Underground-style diagrams on paper to explain investment positions.

Artificial Intelligence: Useful, But Not Irreplaceable

On artificial intelligence, the panel reached a considered consensus: AI is genuinely useful for research, due diligence preparation, analysis, and modelling, but the human element in wealth management is irreducible. Viy described a client case where an AI-based due diligence process would have flagged false information — accusations planted online by a malicious party, subsequently cleared by an Interpol investigation — as genuine risk. "You have to meet the client. You have to understand the situation."

Henny had recently encountered a prospective client who had arrived at a lunch meeting with printed ChatGPT research about him. The results were favourable — but the anecdote captured how the locus of information has shifted.

Sherbiny closed his contribution with a practical note: AI is currently used within his family office for due diligence runs, analysis, and forecasting modelling — but not for investment decisions. "I still believe that human intelligence remains a very strong essence of the actual family." His father still needs the year-end report printed in paper so he can write his comments in the margin. The technology is valuable; the relationship is irreplaceable.

Closing Reflections

For Andrew Deane, closing a day that had moved from Monaco's tax proposition through relocation strategy, succession planning, luxury assets, real estate, disputes, and governance, the family office panel was a fitting conclusion. Asked what advice they would give a second-generation family member today, the panel's answers — structure your wealth properly or it will not survive; show genuine interest and build knowledge around it; talk to the first generation while they are still alive; do not feel pressure or entitlement but take the time to understand what you want — were as much personal as professional.

In wealth as in life, it seems, the enduring insights are the simplest ones.