Correction: In the last issue of Officium, Wendy Craft was characterized as "touting advisory services" on behalf of other businesses. This is untrue. Wendy has long held leadership and legal roles in family office entities — particularly in the New York community — introducing and connecting people across the private and complex network of families.

Economic Nationalism Is Dead

The topic for this week is economic nationalism —  and why it is not a concept that family offices should be paying any attention to.

In direct response to American foreign economic policy, the U.K. and Canada are both doubling down on economic nationalism in the pension sector. The moves are intended to help lower dependence on the U.S. and its capital markets and help rejuvenate local economies by increasing productivity and stimulating investment into domestic businesses. The strategy has been called into question for its efficacy, but continues unabated.

There is room to debate whether the potential for limiting returns adheres to the fiduciary rights of these pension funds, or indeed the more philosophical discussion about whether the need of the country is greater than the individual — but this is not the concern of a family office. All of the family offices I have spoken with have a global outlook. A Canadian family office does not have the same responsibility to the Canadian economy as a pension fund; it serves the family.

Take Vishnu Amble, head of investments for the GreenBear Group, a family office formed in Singapore. He has been actively increasing the SFO’s commitment to the U.S. market recently, both in terms of portfolio allocation and with the introduction of an office in South Florida. There is no question about where he now wants to deploy his resources despite many years of investing into South Asian markets.

“The U.S. has the best talent pool and the best tech system for fostering success that brings more entrepreneurship, a market that’s going to spend, a strong currency, and a government that is working hard on building the right ecosystem to foster continued innovation and leadership,” he said. “The Europeans on the other hand have been on vacation for years. Everything goes back to regulation, government involvement, and protection. You get a lot of tech talent in Europe, but they want to go to the U.S., and people want their capital there too.”