Private wealth faces a structural inflection on succession, tax and risk

Private wealth advisers face a tougher operating environment as shifts unfold across key markets. Globally, the Financial Stability Board is sharpening scrutiny of private credit, while the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority has warned of offshore private credit risks. In the UK, HM Revenue and Customs’ pension inheritance tax changes are altering estate-planning assumptions, and in Asia Pacific, UBS data show succession pressure pushing families toward more formal advisory structures. Together, these developments point to a private wealth market in which succession, liquidity, philanthropy and private markets can no longer be managed in silos.

Read more on the week’s key developments:

SEC reforms could reshape public-market liquidity planning

The US Securities and Exchange Commission proposed reforms to registration and reporting requirements for public-company issuers. The changes are aimed at making registered offerings more efficient and reducing disclosure burdens for public companies. For founders, family-controlled businesses and holders of concentrated private-company equity, the proposal does not create an immediate exit window, but it may affect longer-term planning around public-market access, liquidity timing, tax sequencing and shareholder governance.

FSB exposes private credit vulnerabilities

The Financial Stability Board’s 6 May 2026 report placed the global private credit market at between $1.5 trillion and $2 trillion and warned that the asset class has not been tested through a severe downturn at its current scale. The FSB identified vulnerabilities across leverage, borrower credit quality, liquidity mismatches, concentration and cross-border linkages, compounded by data gaps that limit visibility into how exposures are distributed across banks, insurers and private equity firms.

Family offices using private credit for income or diversification must now treat allocation decisions as governance decisions, with stronger scrutiny on manager valuations, borrower transparency and fund liquidity terms.

Open Society Foundations shows philanthropy is becoming more institutional

On 20 May, Open Society Foundations announced a $300 million, five-year US initiative covering economic security, civil liberties, anti-corruption work and strategic litigation, led under Chair Alex Soros following a broader restructuring. The initiative shows how large-scale philanthropy is increasingly being organised around multi-year strategy, public accountability and reputational risk management.

Wealthy families managing philanthropic capital informally are exposed to many of the same operational and reputational risks that formal governance structures are designed to address.

HMRC reforms pension inheritance planning

HM Revenue and Customs has set out changes under which, from 6 April 2027, most unused pension funds and pension death benefits will fall within scope for inheritance tax. The change narrows a long-standing estate-planning advantage widely used in the UK, with new reporting, payment and withholding obligations affecting personal representatives, pension scheme administrators and beneficiaries.

UK-domiciled and UK-linked families must revisit beneficiary nominations, liquidity planning, insurance, gifting, trust strategy and pension drawdown sequencing before implementation.

PRA securitisation reform matters for structured credit exposure

The Prudential Regulation Authority’s CP2/26 consultation on securitisation reform closed on 18 May 2026, moving UK regulatory change into its next phase. The PRA aims to make requirements more proportionate, reduce compliance costs and better align capital treatment with economic substance.

For family offices and private banks active in structured credit, the operative question is how far UK rules will diverge from EU standards on due diligence, risk retention and disclosure, and what that means for cross-border positions.

Investec targets growth in private client wealth

Investec Group disclosed a private client growth strategy targeting 122,000 new South African private banking clients on top of its existing 128,000, with an incremental ZAR 3 billion ($183 million) in operating profit by FY2030. In the UK, it aims to add private banking clients and operating profit as part of a broader push into private client wealth.

The strategy extends competition into the affluent segment below ultra-high-net-worth, where the test will be whether scaled propositions can sustain adviser quality and relationship continuity.

APRA flags offshore private credit risk for wealthy investors

Australia’s Prudential Regulation Authority, in its May System Risk Outlook, estimated the domestic private credit market at around AUD 200 billion ($143 billion), or roughly 3% of the banking system, and assessed domestic risks as contained. APRA’s concern is directed offshore: international private credit structures remain opaque, valuations are infrequent and defaults are drawing growing regulatory scrutiny.

Australian and Asia-Pacific families with cross-border credit exposure should not assume domestic resilience protects them from offshore valuation, liquidity or fund-finance stress.

S&P data turn direct investing into a family office capability test

S&P Global Market Intelligence data show family office direct investments rose 123.3% year on year in 2025 to $12.9 billion across 158 transactions. Technology and telecommunications attracted $3 billion across 36 transactions, while materials drew $4.8 billion, including the $4.5 billion Verallia acquisition.

The scale of direct investing now demands institutional-level sourcing, valuation, legal structuring and post-investment oversight. Families without that infrastructure are taking institutional-sized risks.

UBS data puts Asia succession advice at centre of wealth competition

UBS’s Global Next Generation Report, published in May 2026, estimated that $83 trillion in private wealth will transfer between generations over the next two to three decades. In Asia Pacific, 43% of next-generation respondents named wealth managers as their primary succession-advice source and 29% named family officers, both above rates recorded in other regions.

For private banks, succession advice has become a primary relationship test, where governance, family communication and adviser continuity will determine who retains the next generation.

Citigroup hiring plan intensifies Asia wealth competition

On 22 May, Citigroup’s head of wealth Andy Sieg confirmed Asia will receive a significant share of the bank’s planned global hiring of roughly 100 private bankers and 400 specialists. Citi’s Asia wealth business generated approximately $3 billion in 2025, around 35% of global wealth revenue, with hiring directed at Singapore, Hong Kong, India and Southeast Asia.

The move intensifies competition for wealthy clients across the region, but adviser quality and continuity will matter more than headline headcount.

What to watch next

Watch for HMRC guidance on pension inheritance tax reporting ahead of April 2027; further FSB and APRA signals on private credit disclosure, leverage and valuation practices; progress on the SEC’s public offering reform; fresh private banking hiring announcements in Asia and the Middle East; and how major banks translate UBS’s next-generation succession data into advisory infrastructure and product design.