Marcuard Family Office Ltd.
Marcuard Family Office Ltd. (“MFO” or “we”) is an investment adviser registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. We offer our clients investment advisory services. Clients should understand that the services we provide and fees we charge are different than those of a broker-dealer, and that it is important to understand the difference between the two. Free and simple tools are available to research firms and financial professionals at https://www.investor.gov/CRS, which also provides educational materials about investment advisers, broker-dealers and investing.
Description of services: MFO offers the following investment advisory services to U.S. retail investors:
Investment Advisory Services: We provide asset management services which involve us managing, advising and/or trading your designated account(s). We will discuss your investment goals and design a strategy to try and achieve your investment goals. We will continuously monitor your account when providing asset management services and contact you at least annually to discuss your portfolio. For more information, please see Item 4 of our Form ADV Part 2A. When engaging us for investment advisory services, you can choose whether you’d like us to provide services on a discretionary basis (we will have the authority to determine the type and amount of securities to be bought or sold in your account without consulting with you) or a non-discretionary basis (we solely advise you upon investments and it is for you to determine). For more information about investment authority, please see Item 16 of our Form ADV Part 2A.
Cockpit services: We provide consolidation, reporting, coordination with custodians and negotiation of fees. This does not include monitoring, advising, trading or exercising discretion. Please see Item 4 of our Form ADV Part 2A.
Projects & family office services: These services include wealth planning, administration, IT management, philanthropic planning, entity structuring, property management and family governance. Please see Item 4 of our Form ADV Part 2A.
Private parket advisory services: These services include non-discretionary investment advice regarding private markets investments. Please see Item 4 of our Form ADV Part 2A.
Limited investment offerings: We do not generally invest in or recommend one type of security to clients. Instead, we recommend investments designed to be suitable for each client’s portfolio relative to that client’s specific circumstances and needs. However, we are limited in investment selection in that we can only invest in securities which are available on your custodian/broker-dealer’s platform. We will invest and provide advice on our proprietary funds.
Account & fee minimums: You require a minimum of $20,000,000 USD in liquid assets to utilize our asset management services. To reach this account minimum, you may aggregate family accounts. MFO’s service fee covering all of our services (cockpit, investment advice, projects, family governance) should amount to at least $120,000 USD.
Conversation starters: Given my financial situation, should I choose an investment advisory service? Why or why not? How will you choose investments to recommend to me? What is your relevant experience, including your licenses, education and other qualifications? What do these qualifications mean?
Description of Principal Fees & Costs: Fees charged for our investment advisory and cockpit services are generally charged based on a percentage of assets, typically billed in advance on a quarterly calendar basis, and calculated based on the fair market value of your account as of the last business day of the previous billing period. The annual fee for investment advisory services will typically be based upon a fee schedule which generally ranges between 0.50% and 1.20% contingent upon amount of assets and whether discretionary/non-discretionary. For assets in hedge funds, we will calculate using the estimated value of the fund. For other illiquid positions (e.g., private equity funds and art), a flat fee will be applied. The fee for cockpit services is negotiable based upon assets reported and services required. Because our fee is based upon the value of your account and selected service, we have an incentive to recommend that you increase the assets and use discretion. At our discretion, we may agree to charge a flat fee. When engaging us for investment advisory or cockpit services, you will also incur other fees and expenses. The custodian will also charge transaction and other fees, and the funds will charge you internal fees and expenses. Project and family office services are provided on an hourly basis billed quarterly in arrears. An hourly fee of $300 – $650 per hour is charged depending upon the staff member. By billing hourly, we have an incentive to bill you more hours which is a conflict of interest.
Under certain situations, we charge performance fees to “qualified clients” receiving Private Market Advisory Services. You are typically charged a one-time, initial subscription fee and an annual advisory fee (charged quarterly in advance) plus a performance fee subject to an agreed hurdle rate. The performance fee is tied to a specific Private Markets Investment and calculated based on the difference between the total of all capital calls/co-investment payments made by the client and the total net distributions/sales price/redemption proceeds received by the client for such Private Markets Investment. The accrual of the performance fee is assessed annually and also invoiced annually if specific criteria are met. MFO has a right to receive the performance fee on the total increase of the value (full catch up). The exact fee arrangement is negotiable and may be different than that described above based on the complexity of your situation, number of accounts managed, total assets under management and other factors. By charging a performance fee, we have incentive to recommend more risky investments and favor performance fee accounts which are conflicts of interest.
Additional information: You will pay fees and costs whether you make or lose money on your investments. Fees and costs will reduce any amount of money you make on your investments over time. Please make sure you understand what fees and costs you are paying. For more information about the fees we charge and the other fees and expenses you will incur, please see Item 5 of Form ADV Part 2A.
Conversation starters: Help me understand how these fees and costs might affect my investments. If I give you $10,000,000 to invest, how much will go to fees and costs, and how much will be invested for me?
Standard of conduct: When we act as your investment adviser, we have to act in your best interest and not put our interest ahead of yours. At the same time, the way we make money creates some conflicts with your interests. You should understand and ask us about these conflicts because they can affect the investment advice, we provide you. Here are some examples to help you understand what this means.
We actively manage our own personal accounts while at the same time managing your accounts and other client accounts. This creates different conflicts of interest for which we have developed procedures to mitigate and control for those conflicts. We operate private investment funds and investing as well as recommending that you invest in such a fund creates a conflict of interest. For more information see Items 10 and 11 of Form ADV Part 2A.
Conversation starters: How might your conflicts of interest affect me, and how will you address them?
Additional information: For more information about our conflicts of interests and the ways we are compensated, please see Item 5 and Item 10 of our Form ADV Part 2A.
Description of salary/payment of IARs: We compensate our investment adviser representatives with a salary and a bonus based in part on overall profitability.
Neither us, nor our investment adviser representatives have a legal or disciplinary history to report. You can look up more information about us and our investment adviser representatives at https://www.investor.gov/CRS.
Conversation starters: As a financial professional, do you have any disciplinary history? For what type of conduct?
Additional information about us and a copy of this relationship summary are available on the Internet at www.marcuardfamilyoffice.com. You can also find our disclosure brochures and other information about us at https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/155003. If you have any questions or want an up-to-date copy of this relationship summary, we can be reached by phone at +41 (43) 344 6000.
Conversation starters: Who is my primary contact person? Is he or she a representative of an investment adviser or a broker-dealer? Who can I talk to if I have concerns about how this person is treating me?
