MarketCurrents Wealth Management examines the rise of family offices in emerging markets.

Explosive growth in emerging markets has prompted the creation of family offices in those regions to manage newly-created fortunes.

Both hard data and anecdotal evidence show that emerging-markets family offices continue to prefer owning assets directly rather than through financial instruments or even vehicles like hedge funds. But private-equity funds focused in the emerging markets may be a natural progression for investors who call those same regions home.

In East Asia, cities including Singapore and Hong Kong continue to vie for status as an epicenter of wealth management. In the same vein, they are both attractive locations for family offices seeking to invest in a variety of asset classes around the globe.

There’s also been a rush to serve family offices in places like Greater China where their numbers are growing rapidly. Some private bankers at a major institution, for instance, recently left to create their own shop focusing in part on the booming family office business.

We also delve into the lesser-known world of family offices in Latin America and the Middle East. Many of those families hold wealth that is much older than their Asian counterparts and can hardly be called “emerging” As we explain, their age and experience has an impact on their investing styles and general ways of doing business.

In this issue, we examine the array of risk and insurance concerns that family offices face in a fast-changing, digital world.

In recent years, cyberattacks of all shapes and sizes have made headlines on an almost-daily basis. It should come as no surprise that wealthy families are prime targets.

Another challenge for family offices: managing the risk associated with investments in an increasingly diverse and complex set of assets. This report explores ways to embrace structures without triggering typical taxes for family offices that shift in and out of a variety of investments.

A concern for some family office professionals to consider is whether they could be held personally liable if an investment goes sour.

This report analyzes many risk and insurance products designed to solve these problems, along with much more.

MarketCurrents Wealth Management focuses on a topic that some families may find daunting but neglect at their risk: technology.

One of the most immediate and obvious problems is complexity of investments. Many of our interviewees said they have gradually branched into a wider range of investments including hedge funds, private equity, real estate, and other difficult-to-value assets such as fine art.

In response, family offices have found themselves forced to commit very large amounts of time and resources to simply create a complete picture of their wealth to the point that professionals can become overwhelmed.

Fortunately, there are a number of platforms available that seamlessly consolidate assets into a single snapshot. These platforms also take data from vendors and banks so there is almost no time required of professionals.

Another challenge that technology can address is the increasingly-complex task of risk management. With family offices invested in a wide range of securities and assets with frequent purchases and sales, it can be very difficult to assess total exposure on a continuous basis.

Several technology providers specialize in real-time risk analysis by receiving data feeds and generating frequentreports. Such robust compliance systems have also become more critical as banks and broker-dealers face tighter regulations and therefore expect more from their customers.

Finally, the looming threat of cyber-attacks and security breaches creates an imperative to adopt up-to-date technology. Professionals using retail cloud services like Dropbox may face more danger than they realize and should also consider customized mobile phones that are designed to eliminate the risk of hacks.