Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, ultra-high-net-worth individuals and family offices flagged a mood of caution, cash conservation, and monitoring investment opportunities and risks created by the pandemic driving their thinking, according to results from a survey conducted by Citi Private Bank.
Nearly three-quarters of all respondents described their 12-month investment sentiment as “cautious”. Unsurprisingly, topping the list of concerns were COVID-19, both in terms of vaccine availability, as well as monetary and fiscal response by governments and central banks.
Going into 2021, nearly half of those surveyed expected meager total portfolio returns in the next four quarters of 1 percent to 5 percent. When asked what portfolio changes they now plan to make, 56 percent reported making “some tactical changes,” while only 14 percent reported making “significant portfolio changes”.
A remarkable 59 percent of family offices reported having increa