Asia Family Office
Structural reads on Asia's SFO / MFO ecosystem — from Singapore's MAS-tightened landscape to Hong Kong's NCIES recovery, with the practitioner trade-offs that institutional reports don't surface.
The Family Office Hiring Squeeze: Why Investment Professional Headcount Is Asia's Real Bottleneck
Asia's family office count is growing faster than the supply of credible investment professionals. The hiring squeeze is now the binding constraint on the next phase of regional growth, and it's compressing compensation, lengthening setup timelines, and shifting structural choices.
Asia's 4,000 SFO Milestone: The Practitioner's Field Note from a Tipping Point
Asia's combined SFO count crossed 4,000 in 2025 by the most permissive headcount methodology. The number is real, but it tells you less about the underlying wealth mass than the headline implies. Here's the practitioner read on what 4,000 actually represents.
India's GIFT City vs Singapore: The Family Office Choice for Indian UHNW
GIFT City is no longer a marketing slogan. For Indian UHNW with onshore operating wealth, the SG 13O vs IFSCA Family Investment Fund choice is now a real decision, not a default. Here's the framework I'm using to read it.
The Quiet Cost of "Premium Tier" 13U: Why It's Not Always Worth the Tax Saving
Section 13U is sold as the premium tier of Singapore's family office tax regime. The breakeven math, when you account for IP costs, mandatory local spending, and the third-IP non-family constraint, is much narrower than the marketing makes it look.
Why I Track Family Office Headcount, Not AUM (And What the Numbers Show)
AUM is the headline number. It is also the most lagging signal in the family office ecosystem. Investment Professional headcount is the leading signal — and the numbers it shows are different from the ones AUM tells.
The "13O vs 13U" Decision Framework: Why Mid-Tier Family Offices Are Defaulting to 13O
13O vs 13U used to be a wealth-band sorting problem with a clear table of cutoffs. Post-2023 substance updates broke that table. Here's the decision framework I'd actually use for a mid-tier (USD 30-80M) wealth holder evaluating the choice today.
Singapore's Family Office Boom Isn't What You Think — A Mid-Tier Wealth Practitioner's Read
The 1,400-then-2,000 SFO headline is real, but it isn't the story. Here's the read I'm having on what's actually pulling mid-tier wealth into Singapore — and what the substance updates mean in practice.