“The Rockefellers call their family office Room 5600, but a room it's not.
It's a big 66,136 square feet, filling most of three high floor is in
Rockefeller Centre's RCA Building. It also 175 people working for 83
Rockefellers - managing an estimated $900 million of their money,
paying their bills, preparing their taxes, orchestrating their philanthropies,
doing their legal work, writing their speeches, cataloguing their art,
compiling their archives.”
The Ultimate Family Room, The Rockefellers End of a Dynasty?
Fortune, August 4, 1986
Many Family Offices in Asia are formed with the purpose of helping to manage the investment of the family’s financial capital. However forming a Family Office can also be seen as an acknowledgment that the “business of the family” is separate from the family’s business activities (as many Asian families are still business operating or controlling families). Forming a Family Office therefore also acknowledges that the family has its own separate needs.

The Family Office can become a focal point for the family; a focal point that is separate and distinct from the business activities of the family. If the family business is ever sold, the Family Office could be the structure that helps to keep the family connected and united.

Importantly, if a family have a goal of jointly owning or managing financial wealth together, then that family will need to formalize the way in which they make joint decisions together concerning the management of that wealth, and a way to plan for the future to ensure that their unique family values, vision and mission are achieved. This is called “Family Governance”. The Family Office can help the family it serves adopt sound Family Governance practices.