North American wealth management family offices are optimistic this year about the outlook for private equity and AI investments, according to findings from the 2026 North America Family Office Report released on Tuesday by RBC and Campden Wealth.
The shift in sentiment to optimism followed strong overall 2025 performance, which reset performance expectations for this year, the report said.
Of the 155 single-family and private multi-family offices surveyed, 84% expected direct private equity investments and 74% expected private equity funds to match or beat 2025 performance over the next two to five years, according to the report.
AI Adoption And Investment Outlook
AI was the top investment pick for the next 12 months among 85% of family offices surveyed, the report also said. The survey also found that family offices were using AI to improve operational efficiency.
As technology adoption advanced across the sector, 50% of family offices surveyed reported that AI was now embedded and essential to their workflow, according to the report.
“Family offices continue to embrace new capabilities, such as artificial intelligence, but many core processes – particularly investment reporting – remain highly manual,” Manju Jessa, Vice President and Head of Family Office and Strategic Clients at RBC Enterprise Strategic Client Group, said in the report’s introduction.
She added, “As technology advances, the challenge will increasingly be one of implementation: integrating tools, data, and workflows in ways that reduce complexity, strengthen oversight, and allow family office professionals to focus more of their time on the needs of the family.”
Wealth Transfer And Cybersecurity
Among the other findings, the report said 23% of family offices surveyed reported that they had experienced a generational transfer over the previous five years. But 50% of family offices reported an incomplete or non-existent succession plan, according to the report.
The report also found that one in five family offices had been formed within the previous six years.
Despite the overall optimism, cybersecurity and data breaches were the top near-term operational concern among family offices, cited by 59% of respondents, up from 16% in 2025, according to the report.
The report found that 59% of offices had experienced phishing attempts and 25% had seen a family member’s personal accounts breached. At the same time, reported use of two-factor authentication fell from 92% to 83%, while dual payment authorization fell from 84% to 73%.
Manual processes, the top concern the previous year, ranked third in the 2026 survey.
For longer-term risks, 51% of respondents cited failure to upgrade technology, ahead of family members being unprepared for succession and family conflict, according to the report.
“In essence, family offices must view AI adoption and cybersecurity investment not as competing priorities, but as complementary imperatives—each essential to leveraging innovation’s benefits while fortifying defenses against the risks that digitalization inevitably introduces,” Lori Woodman, Managing Director of Family Office and Strategic Clients at RBC Enterprise Strategic Client Group, said in a news release announcing the report’s findings.
“What makes this year distinctive is that two transformations are happening at once,” Angie O’Leary, Head of Wealth Strategies and Solutions at RBC Wealth Management – U.S., said in the release.
“Established families are preparing to transfer wealth and values to the next generation, while a new generation is creating family offices from scratch.”
O’Leary added, “Both groups need to align over the values and purpose of their wealth, and both need succession planning well before a transition is imminent.”
Campden On Optimism And Risk
“It was surprising to see how strong the optimism is within family offices, particularly around their private market investments,” Adam Ratner, Director of Research for Campden Wealth, told Wealth Solutions Report by email.
“For all the discussions in the media around a challenging exit environment and speculation that we’re in a late-stage bull market, the responses suggest family offices are anticipating several more positive years in the cycle.”
Ratner said several risks the survey asked about had materialized over the previous several weeks, including a spike in oil prices and an increase in the U.S. federal funds rate. Because those risks were already on many offices’ radar screens, he said their views were unlikely to have changed significantly.
He added, “The broader question is whether the optimism we have seen gets carried away and expands into a fear of missing out. A degree of skepticism can be healthy.”
The report’s survey responses came from 123 offices based in the U.S., 21 in Canada and 11 across the rest of the Americas, according to RBC and Campden. The families represented by the offices were worth $100 million to over $10 billion, with an average operating net worth of about $2.25 billion, the companies said.
“The survey was conducted online via a self-reported questionnaire between May and August,” Ratner told WSR. “We conducted additional qualitative case studies via phone and Zoom.”
Jeff Berman, Contributing Editor and Reporter at Wealth Solutions Report, can be reached at jeff.berman@wealthsolutionsreport.com.
