Iran war spurs family offices to open global branches

Binaya Dahal

Journalist

16 April 2026

The war in Iran is driving the ultra-wealthy to open new branches of family offices around the world to manage risks created by energy shocks, tax changes and economic sanctions, according to wealth managers. 

The ultra-high-net-worth clients are moving to rebalance as much as 15-20% of portfolios in response to disruptions in oil markets and what they describe as a rapid acceleration in the shift towards competing global economic blocs.

On average, oil has been trading above $100 a barrel after Iran curtailed an estimated 100 million barrels a day of supply through the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most critical shipping chokepoint, following the outbreak of war.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) has described the disruption as the largest oil supply shock in modern history. Fund managers say this rupture is accelerating demand for family office structures capable of coordinating complex cross-border wealth strategies.

DeVere Group’s chief executive Nigel Green said clients are not just reallocating assets but are restructuring how they own those assets, where they hold them, and how they make decisions.

“Diversification is being rewritten. It’s now about how assets behave across different political and economic systems, not just markets,” Green said.

“Family offices are central to that because they allow clients to structure exposure with precision across those systems.”

He added the firm is seeing a growing pipeline of restructuring activity, including trust reconfiguration and holding company adjustments, with timelines compressing from years to months.

“What used to be multi-year planning is now being prepared and executed in phases over months,” Green said. “Clients are acting ahead of further fragmentation in trade, capital flows and regulation.”

The trend is also accelerating succession and governance planning, with families bringing forward intergenerational wealth decisions to ensure structures remain robust under shifting geopolitical conditions.

“We’re seeing generational planning brought forward at pace,” Green said. “Wealth structures are being strengthened to ensure assets can move, adapt and endure regardless of how geopolitical conditions evolve.”

Green expects the shift towards multi-jurisdictional family office structures to persist as long as geopolitical risks remain elevated, and the global system continues to fragment into competing economic blocs.

“The Iran conflict is the catalyst. The bigger shift is a new global economic order defined by fragmentation, state intervention, and strategic competition. Ultra-high-net-worth families are positioning for that reality now,” he said.