We talk to a newly-launched organisation based in Monaco about how it intends to carve a distinctive business in the multi-family offices space.

When there’s so much similarity between wealth managers and parts of the value chain are becoming commoditised, standing apart requires more effort.

A new multi-family office, launched in Monaco, puts technology and philanthropy front and centre in its bid to make a different kind of splash in the market. Monaco Private Advisory Multi-Family Office, aka MPA MFO, was launched a few weeks ago. It provides personalised legal, tax, real estate and commercial advice and financial supervision, as well as operations supporting individuals and families in Monaco and beyond. The leadership team is made up of Thierry Crovetto (head of financial family affairs), Céline Santos (head of private family affairs) and Cédric Zaidan (head of corporate family affairs).

“Beyond providing services such as personalised legal, tax, real estate and commercial advice as well as financial supervision and operations support, we figured that we could actually combine innovation, eco-responsibility and clients' needs,” Zaidan told WealthBriefing in a recent interview. “As such, we decided to offer our clients – upon demand – a secured-access platform enabling real-time outlook of all their assets and documentation. The technology and our team come together in harmony to automate what can be automated, and always provide the essential human contact when needed.”

“In regard to philanthropy, Monaco plays an important role by contributing, both nationally and internationally, to rewarding philanthropic foundations working to preserve natural resources, guarantee equitable economic development and improve the quality of life of populations. We are committed to pursuing these actions by supporting our clients in setting up innovative and responsible foundations and philanthropic associations,” he said. 

Zaidan said the MFO enables clients to have “one interlocutor” pulling together their personal and professional assets, and helping them deal with challenges and future projects such as tax, legal, real estate, commercial or finance-related.

And Zaidan pointed out an important quality of an MFO in the tiny European principality: “An MFO in Monaco is bound by professional secrecy before the law. This aspect is essential to a certain type of clientele we deal with.”

“Our clientele includes private individuals residing or not in the Principality of Monaco, who own personal and professional assets in Monaco and/or abroad and wish to benefit from daily support and advice for the management of their assets. We also work closely with single family offices, small to medium-sized family enterprises, as well as corporations from Monaco and beyond,” he said.

The rise of a new MFO suggests that while sometimes overshadowed by rival international financial centres, the jurisdiction is making waves of its own. Late in 2019, this news service interviewed CMB, the local private banking group, about its strategy and the jurisdiction. Barclays Private Bank spoke to this news service in 2019 about how Monaco fits into its European strategy. (Last year the UK bank marked its 100th anniversary of working in the jurisdiction.) Last February, Trustconsult, the Luxembourg-originated international trust boutique, acquired a corporate service provider licence in Monaco. Pictet Asset Services, the asset servicing arm of the Pictet Group, opened a booking centre for external asset managers in Monaco in 2021, joining Pictet’s banking branch. In 2019 this news service interviewed former Julius Baer senior banker Ali Jamal, creator of a new business, Azura, with offices in jurisdictions including Monaco.

Worldwide clients 
Zaidan said he expects to continue working for clients coming from European countries such as the UK, Italy, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland or Luxembourg.

“US and Gulf clients are coming back to the region, and Eastern European nationals and Southeast Asian families are questioning geopolitical stability, and wish to move their assets to the region,” he continued. “Luckily, we are duly equipped to deal with this clientele thanks to our cultural backgrounds and international experience.”

Monaco connection
Crovetto, Santos and Zaidan have been in Monaco for “many years,” Zaidan said. 

“We are here intentionally. With my partners, we have different yet complementary experiences in Monaco and we know the market very well. Moreover, one of our partners is a Monégasque national,” he said. 

Bearing in mind that thousands of family offices are already in existence, with merger and acquisition activity going on in multi-family offices, such as in the Tiedemann/Alvarium deal, WealthBriefing asked how can a new MFO stand out?

“Despite ongoing uncertainty in the markets and following very active Covid and post-Covid months in the M&A space, specifically in Europe, we are still seeing many opportunities in some sectors,” Zaidan replied. “We ought to pursue our efforts to accompany our clients in their ventures and contribute to a certain extent, and within our limited capabilities, to their success.”