UBS Global Family Report: What Changed In 2026

The UBS Global Family Office Report always gets attention, and for good reason. It’s one of the most comprehensive family office reports.

Family offices are becoming more influential every year, drawing interest from investors, banks, advisers, founders and the media.

While the 2026 report is full of useful data, a more interesting question is this: what has actually changed since 2025?

That’s what we’re looking at today.

One of the most interesting thing about UBS’s latest Global Family Office Report is that family offices – renowned as the world’s most patient investors - are becoming noticeably less passive.

The 2025 UBS report was broadly a story of staying the course. Family offices had been through volatility, recession fears and an early-April market sell-off, but the message was still all about long-termism. The 2025 report described families as pursuing a “steady, long-term approach” and sticking with diversified, all-weather portfolios.

The 2026 report feels different.

The tone has shifted from “stay the course” to “rebuild resilience.” UBS now frames family offices as operating in an uncertain, complex and fragmented world. They’re not exactly ripping up portfolios. But they are reassessing asset allocation, currency exposure, regional concentration, AI exposure and succession structures.

The headline number tells the story: 60% of family offices intend to make strategic asset allocation changes in 2026, up from 35% in the 2025 report.

Quite the reset.

While this certainly isn’t panic selling, it is measured recalibration. Family offices are still long-term investors, but they’re no longer simply looking through volatility and assuming the old portfolio map still works.

From shocks to structural anxiety

In 2025, the biggest short-term risk was clear: a global trade war. UBS said 70% of family offices saw it as a risk over the next 12 months. Major geopolitical conflict came second at 52%, while recession and debt risks sat more in the medium-term worry bucket.

In 2026, the risk order changes.

Major geopolitical conflict is now the top concern over both 12 months and five years.

UBS says 64% of family offices see it as a risk over the next year and 61% over the next five years. Debt crisis is now a major five-year concern at 56%, financial market crisis at 51%, and global recession at 50%.

The nature of the fear has changed.

In 2025, family offices were worried about a shock: tariffs, trade disputes, a sell-off.

In 2026, they’re worried about the system: geopolitics, debt, currency concentration, cyber risk, market fragility and the possibility that the old assumptions about global capital flows may no longer be as reliable.

Rather than preparing for a rough patch, family offices are preparing for a world that may stay rough.

The dollar is now a family office boardroom topic

The most original new section in the 2026 report is the US dollar.

In 2025, UBS talked about US exposure and home bias. In 2026, it isolates the dollar itself as a standalone risk.

The numbers are striking. UBS says 65% of family offices expect confidence in the US dollar’s reserve currency role to weaken over the coming year. Nearly half (47%) describe themselves as overexposed to the dollar. Meanwhile, 29% have reduced, or are considering reducing, exposure to US dollar-denominated assets, and 30% are increasing or considering diversification across multiple currencies.

News followed yesterday that gold had overtaken the US Treasuries as the world’s top reserve asset.

The preferred alternatives for family offices are the Swiss franc and the euro.

This is not a dramatic “de-dollarization”. Family offices are not abandoning the dollar. But they are asking a more practical question: do we have too much wealth, liquidity and political risk tied to one currency?

That conversation wasn’t happening a few years ago.

And it’s not just a non-US issue. UBS says many family offices, even in the US, expect confidence in the dollar’s reserve role to weaken. That said, US family offices remain overwhelmingly concentrated in their home market.

So the dollar story is actually two stories: some family offices are actively diversifying currency exposure, while US family offices remain heavily exposed to the depth and liquidity of their domestic market.

 Less real estate, more gold, more infrastructure

The asset allocation changes are not revolutionary (they seldom are).

Developed markets remain the backbone of portfolios. UBS says developed market equities are still the preferred asset class among those planning changes.

Among family offices planning strategic asset allocation changes, the planned moves are modest:

→  real estate falls from 11% in the 2025 allocation to 8% in the 2026 planned allocation

→   gold rises from 2% to 3%

→   infrastructure rises from 1% to 2%

→  emerging market equities rise from 5% to 6%

→   cash edges down from 9% to 8%.

These are small moves, but they could signal a shift in mindset.

The new defensive portfolio is not simply more bonds and cash. It is multi-currency, multi-region, more infrastructure, slightly more gold, less real estate and more selective exposure to growth themes.

The data suggests that’s the new family office hedge: not a single macro bet, but lots of smaller adjustments designed to reduce dependence on any single asset class, region or currency.

The regional picture is not uniform

One of the more useful details in the 2026 report is how different the regional responses are.

The Middle East is the most active region, with 82% of family offices planning strategic allocation changes, albeit with a fairly small regional sample size. Southeast Asia is close behind at 81%, and is also the most AI-focused region, with 88% already invested in the theme. North Asia is also highly active, with 71% planning allocation changes and 74% invested in AI.

Switzerland looks different. Swiss family offices appear more measured: 43% are planning SAA changes and their regional allocation is more balanced than their US peers, with 50% in Western Europe and 37% in North America.

It’s worth looking at regional differences because “family offices” are often discussed as one global tribe. This is not the case. A US family office, a Swiss family office, a Middle Eastern family office and a Southeast Asian family office may all be reading the same macro headlines, but they’re responding differently.

AI has moved from curiosity to core allocation theme

Another major shift is AI.

In 2025, UBS framed emerging technology around healthcare, electrification and AI. Generative AI was discussed partly as an investment theme and partly as an operational tool for things like financial reporting, data visualization, and text analysis.

In 2026, AI is the dominant thematic investment priority.

UBS says 65% of family offices are investing in AI opportunities across the technology stack. Around half of those with AI allocations are investing in data center infrastructure, AI software and platforms, and semiconductor producers.

But the tone isn’t blind excitement. UBS points out that family offices are concerned about stretched valuations and overexuberance. The response is to refine exposure.

Family offices are asking where in the AI ecosystem they should sit: chips, data centers, software, power, healthcare, public markets, private markets, the US, China… or some combination of all of them.

The AI section of the report is really a portfolio construction story, not just a technology story. UBS also highlights power and resources, infrastructure and AI-enabled healthcare as related areas of interest. In other words, family offices are not only buying the AI headline, they’re buying the picks and shovels.

Crypto also gets a more direct mention in 2026. UBS says 24% of family offices have some crypto or digital asset exposure. It remains niche, but of those invested, 44% now consider it part of their strategic asset allocation.

The soft underbelly: succession and governance

The investment side of family offices is clearly becoming more sophisticated.

The institutional side is moving more slowly.

The 2025 report said 53% of families had a wealth succession plan, up from 47% the previous year. But the challenge was framed heavily around tax-efficient transfer, legal structures and asset protection.

In 2026, UBS shifts the emphasis to participation and preparation. The report says 45% of family offices currently involve the next generation either fully or partially. But 21% say the next gen still has no involvement. Only 27% have an organized process to educate or prepare the next generation for future roles.

This remains a common problem for the sector. A large number still struggle with the basic human question: who is actually going to run this thing next?

The bigger picture

The 2026 UBS report doesn’t show family offices abandoning long-term investing.

But it does show them updating what long-term investing now means.

The old family office story was patient capital, privacy, alternatives and access. The new story is resilience: currency resilience, regional resilience, governance resilience and generational resilience.

Family offices are not abandoning the US. But many are questioning dollar concentration.

They’re not abandoning AI. But they are worrying about bubbles.

They’re not abandoning strategic asset allocation. But 60% are planning to change it.

That’s the reset in this year’s UBS report.

The world’s wealthiest families are still patient. They’re just no longer complacent.