A family investment company, often shortened to FIC, is one option advisers may consider when helping families organise the ownership, control and succession of private wealth. It sits alongside trusts, foundations and private trust companies rather than replacing them, and it tends to surface in conversations where control, governance and long-term succession planning all matter at once.
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This article sets out what an FIC is, how control is typically structured, how it differs from a trust, and where Gibraltar may fit in the wider discussion. The aim is to give advisers a clear, practical basis for assessing a FIC and Gibraltar as an option.
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What is a family investment company?

A FIC is a private company established to hold and manage family investments, which may include cash, listed shares, investment portfolios, property and interests in other companies. The company becomes the legal owner of those assets. Family members hold shares in it, with their rights set out in the company's constitutional documents and any supporting agreements. The FIC can issue different classes of shares with different rights attached to those shares.
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In practice, a FIC brings together investments that might otherwise sit across several individual arrangements into a single coordinated structure with a single governance framework.
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How control is usually approached

The main reason families consider a FIC is the ability to separate control and legal ownership from economic benefit. A typical arrangement has parents or founders holding ordinary voting shares and acting as directors, while children or other family members hold non-voting “B shares” or growth shares. Investment decisions stay with the directors, while future growth in value accrues gradually to the next generation. The FIC may issue various different classes all with differing rights to decision, income, capital and growth.
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This lets founders retain oversight while economic value moves down a generation in a controlled way. The point for advisers is that the share structure is only part of the picture. It needs to be designed around the family's tax position, residence profile and succession intentions, not adopted as a template.
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A family investment company is not a trust

A FIC is often compared to a trust, but their legal bases differ. A trust separates legal ownership from beneficial enjoyment, with trustees managing assets for beneficiaries under the trust deed. A FIC is a company, with shareholders, directors and company law obligations. Rights sit in shares rather than in beneficial interests.
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The two are sometimes used together. A trust may hold shares in a FIC, for example, commonly, these may be growth shares, an the trust established for the benefit of the next generation or a FIC may form part of a broader family governance arrangement. Whether that combination makes sense depends on the family's facts, and on legal and tax advice in each relevant jurisdiction.
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Governance considerations

A FIC is not a simple company formation exercise. Advisers will usually need to work through who makes decisions and for how long, which family members benefit from income, capital or future growth, who sits on the board and what duties they owe, where the company and its shareholders are tax resident, and what processes are needed for decisions, disputes and changes in family circumstances over time.
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Without clear governance from the outset, a FIC can create uncertainty rather than the clarity families are usually looking for.
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Where Gibraltar may fit

For internationally connected families, Gibraltar may form part of the discussion where professional administration, regulatory standing and continuity of oversight are relevant considerations. This typically comes up in the context of company administration, fiduciary support, governance processes and how the FIC interacts with trusts, foundations or private trust companies elsewhere.
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Gibraltar's standing in this context stems from its status as a common-law jurisdiction with a stable, long-established legal and regulatory framework. It operates a stable tax environment, and its reputation for governance and substance is broadly comparable to that of the Crown Dependencies, which is part of why it appears alongside them in many cross-border structuring conversations.
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Gibraltar is not the answer in every case. Its relevance depends on the family's objectives, asset location, tax residence and the advice received in each jurisdiction involved.
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Key takeaways

Advisers considering a FIC should weigh it against trusts, foundations and private trust companies rather than in isolation, and should treat the share structure as a starting point for a governance conversation rather than the end of one.
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• A family investment company holds and manages family investments through a company structure, with control and economic benefit separated through different classes of shares.
• It is legally distinct from a trust, and the two structures are sometimes used together rather than as alternatives.
• Governance, not company formation, is the harder and more important part of setting up a FIC.
• Gibraltar may have a role to play through administration, fiduciary support and governance, depending on the family's wider circumstances.
• The structure should be assessed alongside trusts, foundations and private trust companies, not adopted by default.
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Acquarius's role in these discussions

Acquarius works alongside advisers assessing personal asset-holding structures for families with cross-border requirements, including family investment companies, trusts, foundations and private trust companies. Its role is to support clear, well-governed structuring discussions and to provide experienced administration and fiduciary input where Gibraltar is relevant, working alongside the family's legal and tax advisers rather than in place of them.
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Let’s Talk

Email: enquiries@acquarius.gi

Telephone: +350 200 50418

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