E-Paper
Sign In
A trillion-dollar transition accelerates: What 2026 signals for generational wealth in the Middle East
Families are increasingly aware that succession is not just about ownership, but about leadership, decision-making, and shared responsibility in a world that teems with uncertainty and requires rapid reaction times from family businesses to maintain their long-term goals
- PUBLISHED: Tue 24 Feb 2026, 11:36 AM
- By:
- Sebastian Goeres
Generational transitions across the Middle East are becoming harder to defer and more difficult to simplify, continuing to be a major point of focus for family businesses in 2026. Families are increasingly aware that succession is not just about ownership, but about leadership, decision-making, and shared responsibility in a world that teems with uncertainty and requires rapid reaction times from family businesses to maintain their long-term goals. Current challenges point to more deliberate planning and more consistent execution in the context of family business governance.
One reason the issue feels so pressing in 2026 is how closely families remain connected to their core businesses. According to Wealth and Legacy: The Rise of Single-Family Offices in the Mena, a report by the Tharawat Family Business Forum produced in partnership with LGT Middle East, most families continue to retain full ownership of the operating companies that created their wealth, with family members actively involved in management. This concentration can be a strength, but it also means that leadership transitions carry emotional, operational, and financial weight all at once, especially if the family’s core businesses are affected by the uncertainties.
Recommended For You
The way families respond to this reality is becoming clearer. Rather than relying on informal arrangements, more are choosing to professionalise how family wealth and responsibilities are organized. Succession planning remains one of the leading reasons families establish a single-family office, featuring prominently alongside institutionalizing investments, managing risk, and bringing order to complex asset structures. The direction is clear: families are prioritising long-term continuity over convenience, and building frameworks that can hold up as the family enterprise deals with the current challenges.
At the same time, government policy is accelerating the shift. In the UAE, new family business laws, updated corporate governance codes, and incentives for onshore family office structures are nudging families to address succession and governance earlier and more systematically. Many are now responding proactively to regulatory expectations around transparency, continuity, and institutional resilience.
The role of the next generation in contributing to family business governance will continue to be a defining theme going forward, although progress remains uneven. While many families involve next-generation members in their family office, Tharawat’s study reminds us that a meaningful minority still do not. Where involvement exists, it is often gradual and practical, built through exposure to discussions around strategy, responsibility, and governance. This measured approach reflects a growing understanding that successful transitions are shaped over time, and that 2026 could be a catalyst for continuing to engender such transitions.
Structure alone does not resolve the hardest questions families face. One of the report’s most telling findings is that a significant proportion of families have not clearly defined the purpose of their wealth, while others are still working toward achieving that clarity. Without a shared sense of direction, families often struggle with alignment and consensus, particularly as decision-making becomes more distributed. Even well-designed frameworks can fall short if the underlying purpose of family wealth remains unclear.
As the year unfolds, more GCC families are moving from intent to implementation, translating long-discussed succession plans into practical governance and stewardship frameworks. Families that navigate generational transition most effectively in 2026 and beyond will be those that treat it as an ongoing process rather than a one-time event. Sustained communication, clarity of roles, and realistic expectations are becoming just as important as formal structures. In a region where family businesses remain central to economic life, the opportunity lies not only in transferring wealth, but in transferring confidence, capability, and trust across generations.
Sebastian Goeres is Chief Executive Officer of LGT Middle East.