Family Investment Company (FIC)
Last updated 25 August 2026
A family investment company, or FIC, is a privately owned company whose main purpose is to hold and manage a family's investments rather than to trade as an operating business. Directors run the company. Shareholders own it. The assets inside may include listed securities, private funds, property, or stakes in operating companies. In that sense a FIC is a specialised holding company, designed around a portfolio rather than around a trading group.
Families use the form because company law gives a familiar set of tools: share classes, dividend policy, director duties, and a statutory record of ownership. Some families prefer it to a trust where they want more flexibility over who receives what, and when. Others run both, with a trust owning shares in the company. The label is common in the United Kingdom, but the same idea appears under other names wherever families hold investments through a company.
A FIC is not a tax product. Outcomes depend on residence, share rights, how profits are extracted, and the law that actually applies. Adding a company also adds administration. It does not make the underlying assets simpler.
Why it matters for family offices
The office is usually the one that has to run the company day to day. That means statutory accounts, tax filings, bank and custodian mandates, director appointments, dividend minutes, and a current cap table. Banks and fund administrators will treat the FIC as the client, so KYC and AML files must explain who the shareholders and ultimate beneficial owners are.
Reporting has to look through the company. A net worth figure that stops at the shares in the FIC hides concentration, leverage, and unfunded commitments sitting in the portfolio. Investment decisions taken by the directors should still sit inside the family's investment policy and any investment committee mandate, otherwise the company becomes a parallel process that nobody oversees.
How it shows up in practice
Suppose three siblings own a FIC 40/40/20 after a parent transfers listed holdings and a private fund portfolio into the company. The directors, two family members and an independent, meet quarterly. Dividends are set each year against cash needs, not against who asked first. The family office keeps the statutory books, records each capital call paid from the company's account, and produces a look-through report so each shareholder can see their economic exposure.
When a bank asks who controls the company, the office supplies the register of members, the board minutes appointing directors, and the ownership chart up to the individuals. The structure is usable because the records are current, not because the word FIC appears on the letterhead.
Related terms
Holding Company
A company created to own shares in other companies, investments, or assets rather than to trade in its own right. UHNW families use holding companies to consolidate ownership, centralise governance, manage tax exposure, and simplify succession. A family's wealth is often held through layers of holding companies, trusts, and partnerships that reporting systems must map accurately.
Trust
A legal arrangement in which one party (the settlor) transfers assets to another (the trustee) to hold and manage for the benefit of designated beneficiaries. Trusts are foundational tools in UHNW wealth planning, used for succession, asset protection, tax efficiency, and privacy. Family offices frequently administer multiple trusts across several jurisdictions.
Wealth Structuring
The design of the legal and tax architecture through which a family holds its assets, encompassing trusts, holding companies, foundations, insurance solutions, and jurisdictional choices. Good structuring balances tax efficiency, asset protection, succession goals, and regulatory compliance. It determines the entity framework that a family office must then administer and report on.
Entity Management
The administration of the companies, trusts, partnerships, and foundations through which a family holds its wealth. It covers ownership records, directorships, filings, and the relationships between entities. Because UHNW structures routinely span multiple jurisdictions and generations, software that models complex ownership hierarchies has become indispensable to family offices.
Tax Planning
The legal structuring of a family's affairs, through entity choice, residency, timing, and jurisdiction, to minimise tax liabilities across income, capital gains, wealth, and inheritance taxes. For UHNW families with assets and members in multiple countries, tax planning is a continuous, coordinated exercise rather than an annual event. It sits at the intersection of investment strategy, wealth structuring, and estate planning.
Further reading
See how family offices put this into practice
Asora gives family offices one clear view of their entire wealth.
Schedule a demo