UHNW families rebalancing portfolios amid Iran fallout, spelling opportunity for advisors

Ultra-high-net-worth families are looking to rebalance up to 15-20% of their portfolios amid the fallout from the Iran conflict, which has wrought disruption in the energy markets, but created opportunity for wealth managers.

International financial consultancy deVere Group says it has seen a surge in activity in its Family Office division as clients look to restructure portfolios, jurisdictions, and governance frameworks.

The consultancy pointed to the price of oil, which has soared amid disruption to shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, a vital chokepoint for global oil supplies. This, it said, is feeding directly into inflation expectations and currency volatility.

Underlining the scale of the disruption, the International Energy Agency warned last month that the conflict in the Middle East has created the largest supply disruption in the history of the global oil market.

But the situation in the region remains tense. The U.S. launched ts blockade of Iranian ports Monday, which has prompted fierce criticism from China. On Tuesday, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the blockade as “a dangerous and irresponsible act,” warning that it could exacerbate tensions in the region and undermine the conditional two-week ceasefire that was agreed last week.

A new global economic order is taking shape, according to deVere Group, which notes that globalization is reversing into regional trade blocs, with the U.S., China and other aligned economies increasingly operating in parallel systems.

“This is a system shock,” said deVere Group CEO Nigel Green, in a statement. “You have a material energy supply disruption and a structural shift toward fragmentation happening at the same time.”

“Ultra-high-net-worth families are increasingly considering moving double-digit portions of portfolios because they see a world dividing into competing economic systems,” he added.

This also means increased reliance on family office capabilities, particularly for clients with multi-jurisdictional exposure, according to Green.

“Clients are not just reallocating assets; they’re restructuring how those assets are owned, where they are held and how decisions are made,” he said. “This requires coordinated oversight across jurisdictions, tax frameworks and investment strategies, especially as capital movement becomes more politicised and regulatory scrutiny increases.”

The company notes a growing pipeline of restructuring activity, such as trust reconfiguration, holding company adjustments and jurisdictional rebalancing.

Even before the Iran conflict, experts had noted a shift in what the super-wealthy require from their advisors. Last year, for example, Cerulli Associates warned that wealth managers need to adapt their services to better meet the needs of high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth clients. Cerulli projects that the total advisor-managed HNW industry will exceed $30 trillion in assets under management (AUM), with an anticipated annual growth rate of about 9.3%.

Services are increasing to match this demand. In a research report, Cerulli said that, among wealth managers focused on serving high-net-worth investors, an average of 12 services were offered in 2024, up from 10 in 2017.

Cerulli found that, in 2017, just 42% of high-net-worth practices offered trust administration and trustee services and only 34% offered private banking services. However, by 2024, use of these services had jumped to 61% and 59%, respectively.