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Private Clients

Institutional-Grade Wealth Management for Multiple Families

A Multi-Family Office extends the benefits of bespoke, integrated wealth management to a select group of families, delivering institutional-quality advisory, reporting, and governance at a shared cost base while maintaining complete confidentiality for each family.

Overview

What is a Multi-Family Office?

A Multi-Family Office (MFO) is a regulated wealth management entity that provides the comprehensive, bespoke services of a Single Family Office to a select group of high-net-worth families, sharing the operational infrastructure, compliance framework, and talent base across a small number of clients to achieve institutional quality at a manageable cost point.

In Mauritius, an MFO is typically structured as a GBC and licensed by the FSC as an Investment Adviser, and, where it executes trades on behalf of clients, potentially as an Investment Dealer as well. The MFO model is particularly attractive to families whose wealth level does not justify a dedicated SFO but who demand a level of service and personalisation that a private bank cannot provide.

Each client family's affairs are managed with complete confidentiality, there is no pooling of assets, and each family's investment mandate, reporting format, and governance arrangements are fully bespoke. The MFO provides a shared platform: a single compliance and operations infrastructure, a unified technology stack, and a shared investment research capability, all of which are delivered through a highly personalised service model for each family.

Aurevya advises both on establishing new MFOs, for investment professionals or family office managers looking to launch an institutional advisory platform in Mauritius, and on the governance, licensing, and client onboarding frameworks that MFOs require to operate compliantly and effectively.

FSC
Regulated under Financial Services Commission
An MFO providing investment advisory services in Mauritius requires FSC licensing, providing clients with regulatory assurance and international credibility.
5–20
Families Typically Served
An MFO model works best with a carefully curated client base of 5–20 families, preserving the quality and personalisation that distinguishes it from a conventional private bank.
Shared
Cost Structure
Operational costs are shared across the client base, enabling each family to access SFO-quality services at a significantly lower cost than maintaining a dedicated family office.

Key Features

What an MFO Delivers

01
Shared Operational Infrastructure
Compliance, risk management, technology, and operations are shared across the MFO's client families, providing institutional-quality infrastructure at a fraction of the cost of a dedicated SFO.
02
Bespoke Family Reporting
Each client family receives fully customised reporting, consolidated across all their entities, custodians, and asset classes, with no pooling with other MFO clients. Confidentiality between families is absolute.
03
Investment Advisory Services
The MFO provides investment advisory services to each client family, including strategic asset allocation, manager selection, alternative investment access, and portfolio monitoring, under the FSC Investment Adviser licence.
04
Consolidated Custody Arrangements
The MFO leverages its scale to access institutional-grade custody arrangements at competitive terms, benefiting each family through reduced custody costs, enhanced counterparty quality, and streamlined account management.
05
Estate & Succession Support
Each client family's succession plan is supported by the MFO's advisory team, integrating trust and foundation management, holding company administration, and cross-jurisdictional estate planning into the MFO's consolidated service offering.
06
Digital Reporting Portals
Each family has secure, real-time access to their consolidated wealth position through a dedicated digital reporting portal, providing full visibility of assets, performance, and allocations at all times from anywhere in the world.

Process

How It Works

01

Concept & Mandate Design

We work with the founding team or sponsor family to define the MFO's mandate, the target client profile, service offering, investment philosophy, fee model, and governance framework. A business plan and financial model are prepared to support the licensing application.

02

Licensing Application

A comprehensive FSC licence application is submitted, including the business plan, regulatory compliance framework, KYC and AML/CFT programme, key personnel CVs, and governance documentation. Aurevya manages the full application process and FSC liaison.

03

Entity Structuring

The MFO entity is established as a GBC, with appropriate shareholder structure, board composition, and registered office. Ancillary entities, such as a separate management company, feeder vehicles, or nominee structures, are incorporated as required by the mandate design.

04

Client Onboarding Framework

Standardised but bespoke client onboarding documentation is developed, including investment management agreements, client information forms, risk profiling tools, and FATCA/CRS declarations. Onboarding procedures are stress-tested against FSC requirements before first client engagement.

05

CRM & Reporting Systems

Technology infrastructure is selected and implemented, covering portfolio management, consolidated reporting, CRM, document management, and compliance monitoring. Systems are configured for the specific needs of the MFO's client families and regulatory reporting obligations.

06

First Client Onboarding

The first client family is onboarded through the newly established framework, with Aurevya's team providing hands-on support for KYC completion, asset transfer co-ordination, reporting system configuration, and the delivery of the first consolidated wealth report.

Practical Considerations

Requirements & Eligibility

Regulatory Requirements

  • FSC Investment Adviser licence required for MFOs providing investment advisory services
  • FSC Investment Dealer licence required where the MFO executes transactions on behalf of clients
  • GBC Global Business Licence required for the MFO entity
  • Minimum two resident directors; registered office in Mauritius
  • Comprehensive AML/CFT programme including client risk assessment procedures
  • Annual audited accounts and FSC returns filed each year
  • Conflicts of interest policy and Chinese wall procedures between client families required

Commercial Considerations

  • Minimum AUM for commercial viability typically USD 200–500 million across the client base
  • Careful governance of conflicts of interest between client families is essential, particularly where families have competing interests in similar investments
  • Fee structures should be clearly disclosed, retainer, AUM-based, or hybrid models are common
  • Succession planning for the MFO itself should be addressed from establishment, including key person dependency and management continuity
  • Technology investment is significant, robust reporting systems are non-negotiable for maintaining client confidence and regulatory compliance

Common Questions

Frequently Asked Questions

An MFO that provides investment advice to client families requires an Investment Adviser licence from the FSC under the Securities Act 2005. This licence comes in two forms: unrestricted (covering all asset classes and eligible clients) and restricted (covering a narrower scope). Where the MFO also executes trades on behalf of clients, rather than merely advising, an Investment Dealer licence is additionally required. The MFO entity will also hold a GBC Global Business Licence. Aurevya conducts a precise licensing analysis based on the MFO's proposed mandate before any application is made.
Confidentiality between client families in an MFO is maintained through a combination of legal, operational, and technological controls. Each client's information is stored separately, with access restricted by role and family assignment. The MFO's compliance policy includes a formal Chinese wall policy preventing any sharing of client information across family mandates. Investment recommendations are made independently for each family, without reference to other clients' positions. All staff are subject to strict confidentiality obligations. The FSC's regulatory oversight of the MFO provides additional assurance of compliance with these requirements.
There is no regulatory cap on the number of client families an MFO can serve. In practice, the MFO model works best with a carefully controlled client base of 5–20 families, enough to share operational costs meaningfully, but not so many that the personalisation and attention that characterise the MFO proposition are diluted. Some MFOs serve up to 30–40 families where the service model is sufficiently systematised, but beyond this range the MFO begins to resemble a boutique private bank rather than a true family office.
There is no regulatory minimum AUM for an MFO in Mauritius. Commercially, a total client AUM of USD 200–500 million is generally considered the threshold for a sustainable MFO, sufficient to support the operational costs and professional team required to deliver institutional-quality services. Below this level, fee income typically cannot cover the MFO's fixed cost base without charging client families more than the value received. Individual client families typically have USD 10–50 million in assets under management with the MFO.
MFO fee structures vary. The most common approaches are: an annual retainer (a flat fee for a defined scope of services), an AUM-based fee (a percentage of assets under management, typically 0.5–1%), or a hybrid combining a base retainer with an AUM component. Performance fees are less common in the MFO context but may be appropriate for certain mandates. All fee arrangements must be clearly disclosed in the client's investment management agreement and disclosed to the FSC as part of the MFO's licensing obligations. Transparency of fees is a regulatory requirement and a commercial necessity for building client trust.
Yes. An MFO can be structured to provide advisory services in relation to family business interests, including board representation, governance advisory, shareholder agreement management, and business succession planning, alongside the investment management and reporting services that form the core of its mandate. However, managing operational business assets falls outside the scope of a standard investment adviser licence; where the MFO provides this broader service, additional legal structuring and regulatory analysis are required to ensure the MFO's licence properly covers the full scope of its activities.

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Related Services

Single Family Office
For UHNW families with USD 50M+ in assets who want a dedicated, wholly private wealth management entity, the SFO is the gold standard of private wealth infrastructure.
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Trusts
The Mauritius trust provides the primary wealth holding and succession planning structure beneath the MFO's consolidated management framework.
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Succession Planning
Integrated succession advisory ensuring each family's wealth transfer plan is coherently implemented and maintained within the MFO's broader governance framework.
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Institutional Quality. Personalised Service.

Speak with our team to explore whether the MFO model is right for you, as a founding family or as a prospective client.

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