Public markets are reentering the spotlight with single family offices selecting developed equities as the top asset class to add allocations, according to a report by Citi.
A survey of single family offices found that 88% reported positive portfolio performance year-to-date, according to Citi Wealth’s 2026 Global Family Office Report, with 41% continuing to target annual returns of 7-10%.
While much focus has been placed on alternatives in recent years, public markets now make a return to leadership. 46% of respondents in the report increased exposure to public equities during the year with global developed equities ranked as the most favored asset class for future net allocations.
Still, private markets remain as a strategic pillar with private equity, direct investing and growth-stage opportunities all being in demand. Family offices are being more selective with greater emphasis on sourcing, expertise and differentiated access, while connectivity was cited as a key competitive advantage. 35% and 45% of respondents noted that they either increased or maintained allocations, respectively, to private equity.
The majority of respondents kept allocations flat in fixed income (51%) and real estate (56%). 41% of family offices also made no change to cash allocations.
Despite ongoing concerns about geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, the top move in terms of investment strategy to respond to the situation was to make no changes (41%). Active management (34%) and hedging strategies (27%) were also cited as leading responses.
AI adoption
In terms of artificial intelligence (AI), the report underlined that usage is now shifting from experimentation to implementation with just 19% of family offices admitting they have not adopted the technology. 40% and 30% described themselves to be in the early and moderate adoption stage, respectively.
AI is being deployed for a variety of functions, across investment analysis, information management, reporting, workflow automation and decision support processes. The most common use cases include Al-generated meeting notes and summaries, document management and retrieval, and internal knowledge management and research assistance.
“As the world around us becomes more complex, family offices are uniquely positioned to build resilient portfolios, reimagine their operations and professionalise in ways that enable their families to achieve ambitious goals,” commented Alexandre Monnier, head of family office advisory, Citi Wealth.
Citi’s survey drew responses between June and July 2026 from 351 family office clients based in 41 countries across North America (41%), Asia Pacific (22%), Europe, the Middle East and Africa (21%), and Latin America (17%). By asset size, 54% managed more USD 500 million and 46% managed less than USD 500 million.
