Companies, investment houses and family offices, among others, are outsourcing more investment to third parties, widening their geographic reach and taking other steps to reduce risk exposures as geopolitical volatility increases.

Economic and geopolitical risks are boosting organisations such as family offices, companies and others to outsource more investment and business to experts and spread exposure, a study finds. 

The findings come in research from Ocorian, which provides services to financial institutions, asset managers, corporates and HNW individuals.

Some 52 per cent of organisations said they have already increased their areas of focus for investments to mitigate risks; 49 per cent have farmed out more to third parties to capture expertise.

The fieldwork for the study captured responses from the European Union, UK, US, Canada, South Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Ocorian commissioned independent research company PureProfile to conduct a global study of 300 senior executives during October last year.

Some 60 per cent plan to increase outsourcing more generally over the next 18 months.

Senior executives at major companies and asset managers working in alternative investments believe that the banking sector will be most positively affected by the results of recent elections around the world. Around 71 per cent say the sector will benefit while 51 per cent say insurance will benefit.

“It is clear that outsourcing of more operations and working with more specialist third parties will continue to trend over the next 18 months as companies look to ensure they are protected as much as possible from the latest economic and geopolitical issues which have a significant impact on decision-making,” Charlotte Cruickshank, global head of onboarding and solutions at Ocorian, said.

The survey was carried out among asset managers working in private equity, venture capital, real estate, infrastructure or private debt, board directors or senior executives of private or publicly listed companies with a minimum annual revenue of $10 million, companies operating in capital markets, wealth managers, family offices and professional services providers such as legal counsel working for alternative asset managers, large listed or unlisted corporates, family offices, wealth managers and capital markets professionals.