Begin with the work you need done
A family can have a private banker and still need someone to coordinate its advisers. It can also have a coordinator and still need an investment manager. The names describe different relationships, and a proposal should make the work, decision rights and responsible legal entity explicit.
For a Romanian family with company interests, property and bank accounts, start by writing down the unanswered question. Is it about bringing information together, arranging banking services, deciding how a portfolio is invested or establishing the legal and tax consequences of a change? Several appointments may be needed, but each should answer a defined part of the problem.
Family office coordination: information and follow-up
In the coordination model used by Elian Partners, the working outputs are an overview of the family's affairs, a record of decisions and an action list across advisers. The coordinator can arrange discussions and check whether outstanding requests have been answered. The family retains decisions about its assets.
The label family office is not enough to establish what a provider does. Read the engagement terms. Check whether the provider is offering administration, investment services or a combination, and which legal entity supplies each part. At Elian Partners, personalised investment recommendations, discretionary portfolio management and brokerage are outside the coordination mandate.
Private banking: the relationship with a bank
A private banking relationship can bring together accounts, payments, borrowing and access to investment services, depending on the bank's offering and the agreements signed. It does not necessarily include coordination with every external lawyer, accountant or another bank.
Ask which products and services are available, which entity contracts with you and how each is charged. Also ask whether the bank's overview includes assets held elsewhere. A relationship manager's access to information is not the same as a mandate to act across all of the family's affairs.
Investment advice and portfolio management: different decision rights
MiFID II distinguishes investment advice, involving personal recommendations about transactions in financial instruments, from portfolio management, where portfolios are managed on a discretionary client-by-client basis under a mandate. These definitions appear in Article 4(1), points 4 and 8; both services appear in Annex I, Section A.
In Romania, Law 126/2018 provides the framework for markets in financial instruments. Check the provider's status and relevant permissions in the ASF register, or with the competent home-state authority where appropriate. A professional title or a founder's individual qualification is not proof that a separate coordination business is authorised to supply the same service.
Before appointing a manager, ask who can place orders, what discretion the mandate grants, where assets are held and what reporting you receive. If you are receiving advice instead, establish how recommendations reach you and how your decisions become instructions to the executing provider.
Legal and tax advice: conclusions that belong to specialists
A lawyer addresses the legal effect of documents and proposed arrangements. A tax adviser assesses the tax position from the relevant facts and rules. A coordinator can organise the information and follow the work, but a consolidated memorandum should identify which specialist is responsible for each conclusion.
Where Romania and another jurisdiction are involved, request an agreed factual brief before advisers assess the options. Different assumptions about ownership or residence can produce answers that cannot be compared. Ask what remains unresolved and whether the opinion covers implementation as well as the proposed structure.
Compare appointments on the same basis
For each proposal, record the contracting entity, the scope, decision rights, reporting arrangements and the full charging basis. Identify any separate provider costs and ask whether an introduction generates remuneration. Request the disclosure in writing before making the appointment.
A practical division of work might leave accounts with the bank, investment decisions within an authorised mandate, legal and tax opinions with specialists, and the action register with the coordinator. This is a division of responsibility to agree with the providers, not a universal package.
If the only outstanding task is a single legal opinion, appointing the relevant specialist directly may be sufficient. Coordination becomes useful when decisions depend on work across several relationships and nobody has responsibility for following those dependencies.
Primary sources
Related reading and next steps
General information. Applying the rules to a particular situation requires review by the relevant specialists.