Prime Highlights:
- Family offices worldwide use WhatsApp to share investment opportunities, get expert advice, and organize meetings.
- The platform’s privacy, encryption, and exclusive groups help members connect safely and efficiently.
Key Facts:
- WhatsApp groups for family offices can include hundreds of members, allowing verification of deals and co-investor connections.
- Experts warn of risks: messages stay on personal devices and metadata is accessible by Meta, so sensitive financial approvals should be avoided.
Background:
Family offices worldwide are using WhatsApp to share investment opportunities, get expert advice, and network, creating private groups for checking deals and organizing meetings.
What began as a convenience tool has quietly evolved into a central part of how the ultra-wealthy operate behind the scenes. Sam Nallen Copley, an investment advisor at a London-based family office, manages one of the largest such networks, a 970-member WhatsApp group that connects single-family offices. Within the group, users trade information on potential co-investors, check the credibility of new contacts, and, in some cases, even buy and sell multimillion-dollar collectibles such as dinosaur bones and rare Pokémon cards.
According to Nallen Copley, the biggest value lies in screening out suspicious actors. With family offices often targeted by bogus billionaires and questionable intermediaries, the group’s collective visibility helps identify red flags quickly.
Many executives say they prefer WhatsApp over email and LinkedIn, where unsolicited pitches and scams are rampant. Members like that WhatsApp is encrypted, easy to use, and private. Since it only works with phone numbers, chats stay more controlled. In several groups, strict rules prohibit direct deal pitching or vendor promotion to maintain integrity.
The app is so widely used that even advisers working with younger family members rely on it, as many of them rarely check email.
However, experts warn that WhatsApp has risks. Messages are stored on personal devices, which can lead to data leaks if a phone is lost or an employee leaves. Meta can also see metadata, raising privacy concerns.
Experts recommend using WhatsApp only for casual communication and not for important decisions or financial approvals.
