Wealth managers are increasingly orchestrating evacuations for their clients from the Middle East following the recent strikes on Iran, a shift that underscores the expanding role of family offices and advisory firms in high-stakes lifestyle and security management. According to the Financial Times, firms like Cresset, which manages over $237 billion in assets, have been directly involved in helping clients leave the United Arab Emirates, combining financial services with logistical and security operations.
“These situations impact us in multiple ways,” said Susie Cranston, CEO of US-based Cresset. “It’s not just the investment side. We’ve actually had to help clients get out of locations that were challenging to get out of.” The firm coordinated private and commercial flights out of Dubai, sometimes navigating closed airspace, while also arranging on-the-ground security.
The trend illustrates how some wealth advisers have expanded services well beyond portfolios and tax planning to encompass lifestyle, travel, and personal security. Research from Cerulli Associates cited by the Financial Times found that nearly a third of advisers to high-net-worth clients now offer concierge services, a figure rising to 58 percent for those serving the ultra-wealthy. Some firms even employ former intelligence operatives to handle highly sensitive extractions.
Swiss-based Alpen Partners, which oversees $4.5 billion, reported assisting roughly 30 clients, predominantly Europeans, to leave Dubai and Israel. The firm also helped clients secure residence in Switzerland, find housing, and enroll children in schools. “It has gotten harder now that private jets are no longer flying out of Oman, but it is still possible,” said Pierre Gabris, Alpen’s founder. Many clients indicated they would delay returning for years due to ongoing regional instability.
Global security and emergency response firms have also seen surging demand. Global Guardian, which has helped more than 4,200 people leave the Middle East since the onset of hostilities, noted that family offices and wealth managers facilitated nearly two-fifths of those extractions. Dubai has been identified as the primary hotspot, with clients transported across borders to Oman before private jets carried them to Europe.
This widening suite of services reflects the consolidation and competition in the wealth management sector. Firms are leveraging concierge and security offerings not only to protect clients but to justify high fees and differentiate themselves from fintech competitors. Cresset’s Cranston emphasized that security is likely to become a core expectation: “I think security is going to become a really, really important aspect of what clients need help with,” she said, citing prior evacuations during the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the 2023 attacks in Israel.
The Financial Times reports that as the Middle East continues to face geopolitical volatility, the role of wealth managers is shifting from financial stewardship to comprehensive risk and crisis management, blending investment guidance with life-or-death logistics for the world’s richest families.
