Wealth can take many forms and exist in many places.

At Conduct, we engage with the different dimensions of wealth that go beyond financial accumulation. Our work incorporates the emotional, physical, intellectual, and social aspects of wealth.

But there’s no denying the importance of financial wealth. Equally, it’s hard to ignore the questions it poses.

• How can wealth owners gain a comprehensive understanding of their wealth?
• How can they guarantee efficiency and transparency with so many potential advisors?
• How can strategic asset allocation – paired with the latest technology – help wealth owners protect and grow their wealth?

We spoke to Franz Angermann: an expert in international tax law and investment, founder of OHM Capital, and pioneer of a fresh approach for family offices and financial controlling.

OHM Capital is a trusted partner at Conduct, sharing our holistic approach to asset allocation – but focusing specifically on the financial dimension of wealth, ensuring transparency, accuracy, and a dynamic overview of financial assets when acting as an overall steward for wealthy families.

We spoke to him about the business model of a contemporary family office, the importance of modern financial controlling tools – and what a digital, technically-dynamic future might look like.

 

1. OHM Capital defines itself as “a shared single family office”. Can you explain what that is?

In 2021, I discussed with an entrepreneur about the best structure for a family office, tailored to their specific needs. During our conversation, we established a set of core principles that we were both happy with.

The first principle was that the client should be a shareholder in the firm. Not for the dividend or income stream, but for the transparency and governance that results from a business model founded on trust.

Another key principle was to make such an office open to other families – not hundreds, but two or three dozen in a similar situation. That way, entrepreneurs get to exchange experiences, and feel they are a collective helping to build and maintain the same endeavour.

Our third principle is the sharing of staff, systems, and specialisation. This allows families to build a more robust, more professional organisation. After all, such an office might be handling lots of daily operations and transactions – which calls for a strong, diverse team, with excellent IT skills. Such staff, driven by professional aspiration see a brighter future in the collaboration of a certain number of families.

After this conversation, it became clear to me that there was a need – and a model – for a shared single family office.

Now, compared to traditional, more patriarchal systems, a shared office may seem unappealing – at least to those who may not want to cooperate with other shareholders.

In fact, I believe that this concept carries many significant additional advantages. As I say to prospective clients: you can collaborate and co-invest with people you trust – and who share the same endeavour as you.

So, while I would say that the concept is still relatively novel, at least compared to traditional single or multi-family offices, I think it is on the rise.

 

2. How do transparency and co-investment work in a shared single family office?

Our clients have the same goals: they all seek exceptional service, availability, and a clear understanding of the business model and its implications for them.

Transparency and alignment are in everyone’s interest. Conflict of interest is well spread in the world of private wealth, making alignment very valuable.

To aid this transparency, I believe we’ve found an effective solution, wherein the office operates more as a cost centre than a profit one. Families know that they are treated equally and fairly because we place such emphasis on transparency. With equilibrium between families and team, the governance model is far ahead of a pure buyer-to-seller relationship found between a family and a traditional multi-family office.

To help alignment, we operate a co-investing model, wherein members of the team can invest alongside our clients. We always say that OHM is a business “from entrepreneurs, for entrepreneurs”. Such a partnership is attractive for the team, obviously, and helps avoid any potential conflicts.

 

3. Why is professionalism within a family office important?

Ten or fifteen years ago, it was common to encounter families who believed millions could be managed by a solitary PA. Even today, I occasionally encounter families who have enormous teams of people looking after their business interests – but only a handful of people looking after their private holdings.

I believe this is changing, overall. Now, I find it much easier to convince clients of the benefit – and necessity – of proper controlling, staff management, and HR capabilities.

Ultimately, I would encourage an entrepreneur to want their family office to be run to the same high standards as their business.

 

4. What are some of the challenges with the current approaches that family offices employ?

I recently came across an article in a private banking magazine that revealed nearly a quarter of family offices in Germany use Microsoft Excel for financial controlling.

Consider this: potentially enormous wealth, controlled through one of the oldest, most basic pieces of software available.

The article also suggested that about half of family offices don’t prioritize cybersecurity, and almost a third of them do no focus on strategic asset allocation.

At OHM, we believe entrepreneurs should manage their wealth just as professionally as their business assets.

Why should millions in personal assets be treated any differently than a business valued at millions?

Why should one type of wealth have teams of people in corporate controlling to protect it, while the other is managed through Excel?

 

5. What are the key elements of modern, digital financial controlling?

Everything we do starts from the same question: what’s best for the client and their family? From that question, we organise our business across four aspects.

Addressing the financial aspects of wealth, you need an overall steward who can steer your investments, ensure your tax and legal compliance, and control all of your assets through a digital dashboard.

The first is to employ a young team of digital natives. To join OHM Capital, IT excellence is a must.

Such a team is essential to our second core aspect: to take a “purely digital” approach to our service, allowing clients to access our IT infrastructure – and therefore minimising web traffic.

The third aspect involves using state-of-the-art software for asset controlling, complemented by top-tier data management software.

At OHM, we provide our clients with a comprehensive but user-friendly dashboard, offering on-the-go access to their wealth from a broad, helicopter’s perspective down to the detailed view of an accountant.

 

6. Can you give an example of what digital controlling looks like?

Our clients get access to a very user-friendly dashboard. The software behind it is quite complex, as you can imagine, but it helps a client focus on any single aspect of their wealth.

Let’s say they want to see a manager’s performance for a certain period, compare it to competitors and several benchmarks, or in different currency. And then, they might want to see each family member’s exposure, as well as the share of the whole family. They just slice and dice their assets and managers on a modern dashboard, down to a single share in Apple.

Historically, those different data points might be held by different partners, who may not have offered easy access. Our dashboard means a client can get a complete, detailed view of their wealth, daily, where electronical data feeding is more and more standard.

Digital controlling allows a client to really analyse their wealth – and, in turn, gain the insights to direct their investment, tax, and legal strategics. Ultimately, they gain overall governance and stewardship of their family wealth.

 

7. If an entrepreneur or family office doesn’t have such controlling in place, what can go wrong?

Lack of transparency means you can’t control the past, at least not in all detail. Not by performance, not by risk taken, not by costs. Even worse, you have no analytical basis to make up your mind about the future.

You may have bulk risks holding the same asset with different managers, you might oversee the upcoming end term of a substantial finance. You are sailing through fog, which might work in quiet see, but certainly not in critical conditions.

Perhaps most importantly, there will be a real lack of consolidation. An entrepreneur may discover that information gaps exist between their different advisors, because there is no single contact with an overview. Such lack of transparency might also cause you to fail staying on the right side of compliance rules, be it regulatory or tax wise.

 

8. It almost sounds like you’re democratising a family’s access to their financial information. Is that fair?

I think so. Knowledge is power, isn’t it?

In the current way of doing things, family offices – or individual officers – build up a lot of knowledge about their client’s wealth. Often, this information “lives in their heads”, rather than in a detailed, accessible system.

If such a family officer leaves, where does that information go? That can cause a headache for a family, who no longer feel they have a full understanding of their wealth. Indeed, I believe each family member should have access to the family financial data, tailored appropriately, ensuring it aligns with the maturity and roles of each family member.

 

9. If shared offices are on the rise, what do you think will have changed for them in the future?

There are always new things to consider: fresh crises, new asset classes, the rise of AI, geopolitics – the new pieces on the chess board. As challenges continue to grow, I would expect for the trend of professionalisation to continue – and for European offices to move closer to American ones in terms of security and process.

But, at the end of the day, our business will always be about people: their challenges, and ambitions, and how they effectively utilize state-of-the-art tools.

For more insights on the art of wealth planning, subscribe to Notes on Wealth Planning.