Ralph Awrey’s clients come for cross-border expertise, stay for lifelong relationships

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As the lives of more Canadian families spill over our international borders, they require help with some complex issues.

Enter Ralph Awrey, whose early experience working with international families outside Canada has uniquely equipped him to help Canadians and their family offices, whether they are managing a foreign-based business or simply supporting a family member who is working or studying abroad.

Born in Hamilton, Ont., raised in Toronto and trained as a chartered accountant, Awrey started his career with the international wealth-management service of a large Canadian bank. This led him to Barbados, where he advised Canadian families engaged in international activities, and to the Cayman Islands, where he assisted families from all over the world.

On returning to Canada, Awrey was approached by Stonehage Fleming in 2020 to help the firm grow its business in the Americas. Today he is the Toronto-based Director of Family Office at Stonehage Fleming, which is based in Jersey, largest of the U.K.’s Channel Islands. It has 19 offices in 11 countries, and is the largest family office operating in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, fiduciary and advisor with stewardship of more than US$75 billion in assets and US$20 billion in assets under management for individuals, families and charities.

We spoke with Awrey about the kinds of issues Canadians bring to him, how Canadian family offices are different, and his rewarding relationships with clients that go deeper than mere business.

Tell us about your current position with Stonehage Fleming.

My career has always involved working with families who were engaged in activities outside of their home market and needed specialist advisors to help them accomplish their goals. Now, our focus and the key part of my role here is to work with Canadian families and their advisors who have some sort of international element to their lives.

We define “family” fairly broadly; it could be a third-generation family or a first-generation entrepreneur. Our starting point is a belief that those families have a terrific domestic advisory team, whether that’s a single- or multi-family office or a group of trusted advisors who provide them with their Canadian advice. We play very much of a collaborative role.

My Stonehage Fleming colleagues from abroad are always very impressed with how Canadian family offices seem to be connected with one another. That’s not always true in other markets.

Ralph Awrey

The other part of my role is that I work with my international colleagues who are engaged with international families who want to do work in Canada. We help them identify the right Canadian advisors and partners, so really my role is team-building.

What kinds of issues are Canadian families bringing to you?

One common pattern would be a family member or members who are leaving Canada. All of a sudden, a Canadian family has an important international element in their lives, a family member who will be a beneficiary of the family’s activities.

While the family likely has terrific domestic advisors supporting them, they may not have the depth of resources to address all the issues associated with that: taxation, estate issues, issues of governance. How do we help our family member establish themselves in this new place?

The other area that we often encounter is Canadian families who acquire assets abroad without a physical relocation. It could be recreational properties, business assets or capital allocation to foreign investment opportunities.

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The issues that Canadian families are dealing with are very similar to other jurisdictions. Family offices and advisors around the world have dealt with those issues over and over again, and that’s a resource that Canadian family offices would be well advised to tap into. That’s where Stonehage Fleming has a lot to offer, given that we have a heritage stretching back 150 years. It’s what we refer to as practical wisdom.

What position do Canadian family offices occupy on the world stage?

Certainly, in the main, the Canadian family-office ecosystem is comparatively less developed than some of the other major markets around the world – Europe and the United States in particular. The industry is rather young compared to those markets.

However, although the industry is certainly less tenured, I don’t think that that means it’s necessarily less accomplished or less sophisticated. It’s just that there’s less depth of experience than what some of the other family offices around the world would enjoy. There’s value to working with families for decades and decades.

I think one of the natural advantages we might have is that, because we’re earlier on in the ecosystem, we can observe what’s gone on and what works well globally. There is an advantage sometimes in not being the first mover. Also, my impression is that, in the family-office space, Canadians are very comfortable with a collaborative model. I think that’s a strength. In some other markets it’s a little more insular.

My Stonehage Fleming colleagues from abroad are always very impressed with how Canadian family offices seem to be connected with one another. There are lots of opportunities for families to share and learn from one another, and that’s not always true in other markets.

What do you find most engaging about your work?

For me, it’s the diversity of work and the diversity of family advisors I collaborate with. I get to work with really smart people who are solving for interesting, important issues.

One of the things that I’m always glad for, and sometimes it doesn’t happen, is that much of the work over my career has allowed me to build good, deep relationships with families. I still regularly speak with a number of families even though there isn’t an ongoing work relationship any more.

The fact that families appreciate what you’ve done for them in a way that transcends the business relationship is really rewarding. It’s those relationships that really leave a mark.

Responses have been lightly edited for clarity and length.

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