Family offices managing trillions of dollars are increasingly repositioning portfolios for what they see as one of the defining economic shifts of the 21st century: the emergence of a multi-polar world.
deVere Group’s Family Office division, set up by the global advisory giant in 2024 due to surging demand, reveals that wealthy families are broadening exposure across regions including India, the Gulf, China, and Southeast Asia as growth, capital, and influence become less concentrated in a handful of traditional economic centres.
The shift is gathering pace as family offices—estimated to oversee more than $6 trillion globally and projected by some industry studies to surpass $9 trillion by the end of the decade—take a longer-term view of where the global economy is heading.
Nigel Green, CEO of deVere Group, says: “The transition towards a more multi-polar global economy is reshaping how sophisticated investors think about risk, opportunity and capital allocation.
“Family offices invest across generations, not quarters. Their focus is increasingly on where economic influence is building in the future, where demographics are supportive, where capital is flowing, and where the next wave of growth is likely to emerge.”
The US remains the world’s largest economy and continues to dominate many areas of AI and tech innovation. China remains central to global manufacturing, trade and industrial supply chains.
Yet many family offices are increasingly looking beyond the traditional US-China framework that has shaped investment thinking for much of the last two decades.
Increasingly, they are viewing the global economy through the lens of five major centres of influence: the United States, China, India, the Gulf and Southeast Asia.
Together, these hubs account for a growing share of global growth, investment flows, innovation and wealth creation, reinforcing the emergence of a more multi-polar economic order.
India recently overtook the UK to become the world’s fifth-largest economy and is widely expected to become the third-largest before the end of the decade.
The IMF forecasts Indian economic growth of more than 6% this year, making it one of the fastest-growing major economies in the world.
Across Southeast Asia, countries including Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines are benefiting from expanding middle classes, rising domestic consumption and increasing foreign direct investment as multinational companies diversify manufacturing operations.
The region’s population now exceeds 680 million people, creating one of the world’s most significant consumer and labour markets.
Meanwhile, Gulf economies are becoming increasingly influential in global capital markets.
Sovereign wealth funds across the Gulf control more than $4 trillion in assets, while financial centres such as Dubai and Abu Dhabi continue to attract capital, entrepreneurs and internationally mobile wealthy families.
The UAE remains one of the world’s leading destinations for millionaire migration, reflecting its growing status as a global wealth hub.
Nigel Green says: “A multi-polar world means economic influence is being spread across a larger number of powerful hubs.
“Today, investors are assessing opportunities across a much broader map than ever before.
“Family offices increasingly see five major centres of economic influence shaping the decades ahead: the US, China, India, the Gulf, and Southeast Asia.
“Each brings different strengths, opportunities and growth drivers, and together they are creating a more multi-polar investment environment.
“The changing balance of economic power is reflected in global growth forecasts.”
According to IMF projections, emerging and developing economies are expected to account for around 70% of global growth over the coming years, reinforcing their increasing importance to long-term investors.
The World Bank estimates that emerging and developing economies already account for close to 60% of global GDP when measured by purchasing power parity, a share that has steadily expanded over recent decades.
“Many wealthy families are asking whether portfolios built for the world of the past 30 years are properly positioned for the world of the next 30,” explains the deVere CEO.
“Concentration risk has become a bigger discussion. Investors are looking carefully at whether future growth will be more geographically dispersed than it has been historically. The answer seems to be yes.”
deVere Family Office notes that the trend is not driven by a retreat from established markets. Instead, it reflects an effort to build portfolios that better reflect a changing economic landscape.
Family offices are increasingly complementing traditional exposures with investments linked to regions benefiting from favourable demographics, economic reform, infrastructure spending and expanding consumer demand.
“The emergence of a multi-polar world is not going to be a short-term theme,” says Nigel Green.
“It’s a structural shift that’s already influencing how some of the world’s largest pools of private capital are being deployed.
“The next generation of global growth is going to be more geographically dispersed than the last, and capital is beginning to reflect that reality.”
