Posts
Japan's Asset Management Center Bid: Why It Threatens Singapore Less Than the Headlines Suggest
Japan's special zones and 'Leading Asset Management Center' push are a real bid to attract fund managers — but they are an asset-management-business play, not a wealth-domicile play. The practitioner read is that Japan competes with Singapore for manager operations, not for family-office capital, and conflating the two is the mistake to avoid.
Singapore as the Control Room for Asia's AI Capital: Reading the 2026 Concentration
Singapore took ~99% of Southeast Asia's AI infrastructure funding and ~75% of regional AI VC in 2026. The number is real, but the more useful read is that Singapore is positioning as the allocation control room for Asia AI capital — across sovereign, infrastructure, and fund-domicile layers — and that has implications for how a wealth pro reads regional exposure.
The VCC at Year Six: Where the Structure Is Working and Where It's Not
Six years after the Variable Capital Company framework went live, it's the default Asia fund vehicle for many use cases and a structural mismatch for others. A practitioner retrospective on where VCC works, where it doesn't, and what would shift the framework next.
SEA Startup Funding Full Year 2025: Five Macro Signals from the Data
USD 5.37B across 461 deals. The full-year 2025 SEA startup funding data is in — and five structural signals matter more than the headline recovery number.
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.
The 11.9% Inflow Story: Reading Singapore's 2026 Wealth Hub Data Before the Headlines
BCG put Singapore at 11.9% cross-border wealth growth in 2024 — the highest of any major hub. The headline reads 'Singapore wins.' The segment-level read is more interesting and points to a different 2026 story.
SEA's Q1 2026 $2.8B Surge: Reading the 146% QoQ Spike Through a Reallocation Lens
Q1 2026 SEA tech funding came in at $2.8B — a 146% jump over Q4 2025. The headline read is 'recovery.' The deal-count read is 'lowest in 8 years.' Both are true. Here's the reallocation lens that reconciles them.
Singapore's Corporate Service Provider Act 2025: The Quiet Compliance Lift
Singapore's CSP Act took effect 9 June 2025 and quietly raised the compliance bar across the entire corporate-services ecosystem that family offices and fund vehicles depend on. The downstream cost effect is bigger than the headline coverage implies.
SEA Secondary Market 2024–2026: PE Secondaries, VC LP Liquidity, and Pre-IPO Tape — Field Notes
SEA secondary market activity has accelerated from USD-equivalent small clip volumes in 2022 to a recognized institutional channel by 2026. Three segments behave differently: PE secondaries (continuation funds, fund-of-fund), VC LP secondaries (limited partner stake transfers), and pre-IPO secondaries (employee + early investor liquidity).
The Cross-Border Wealth Coordination Problem: What Asia Family Offices Get Wrong About Multi-Jurisdiction Setup
Multi-jurisdiction wealth setup is rarely planned coherently from the start. Four common coordination mistakes I see in Asia family office structures, and the practitioner framework for avoiding them at the next setup decision.
USDT as Asia's De Facto Settlement Layer — and the Middleware Economics of TRON's Energy Market
USDT-on-TRON settles most of Asia's small-ticket dollar flows, yet sits outside every licensed stablecoin framework in the region. The more interesting economics sit one layer down: TRON's fixed energy pool has spawned a middleware market for energy scheduling. A market-structure read, with TRXFlow as the case study.
Why Vietnam's Startup Ecosystem Outperforms Its Funding Numbers
Vietnam captures 1-2% of headline SEA venture funding but produces a quality of deal flow that exceeds its funding share. Three structural reasons why the ecosystem outperforms its capital, and what that implies for LP allocation.
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.
The "Source of Wealth" Question: How MAS's 2025 SOW Standard Reshapes Onboarding
MAS's 2025 source-of-wealth standard refinement formalised what private banks and fund admins were already doing more cautiously. The practitioner impact runs through every onboarding timeline, every documentation conversation, and every cross-border setup discussion.
SEA Funding Q2 2025 Rebound: Three Reasons I'm Cautiously Reading It
SEA funding hit USD 2 billion in H1 2025, with late-stage rounds up 140% over the prior half. The rebound is real on paper. Three structural reasons I'm reading it as a continuation of the reallocation story rather than a return-to-growth story.
The Hong Kong Comeback Story: Family Office Numbers vs Reality (2025 Mid-Year View)
Hong Kong's family office count surpassed Singapore's in 2025. The headline tells one story; the underlying drivers tell several. Here's the practitioner read on whether the comeback is real, structural, or partly a counting artifact.
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 2024-2025 MAS AML/CFT Tightening: What It Means for Cross-Border Wealth Setup
MAS's 2024-2025 AML/CFT enhancements raised the bar on source-of-wealth, trust due diligence, and beneficial-ownership documentation. The framework changes are formal-looking but the practitioner impact runs through every cross-border wealth setup conversation.
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.
The "Indonesia Discount": Why SEA's Largest Market Gets the Smallest Capital Slice
Indonesia is 40% of SEA's population and a third of its GDP, yet routinely gets less than 5% of headline regional VC dollars. The discount is real, structural, and only partly an artifact of where rounds get booked. Here's the read on why.
Singapore's 91.5% Capture Rate of SEA Funding: Sustainable or Statistical Artifact?
Singapore captures 91-93% of Southeast Asia's startup funding in any given quarter. Whether that number reflects a real innovation hub or a domiciliation artifact is a different question, and the answer changes how you read the regional VC story.
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 Next-Gen Transition Framework for Asian Family Offices: A Practitioner Read
37% of Asia-Pacific family offices still lack a formal succession plan as the 2026–2035 transition window opens. A four-stage practitioner framework for navigating next-gen leadership transfer — covering discovery, apprenticeship, co-management, and the structural implications of VCC and 13O/13U incentives.
The Geography of Asian UHNW Migration: Mapping the SG / HK / Dubai Triangle
The SG / HK / Dubai triangle is treated as three competitors fighting for the same capital. The corridor-level data says they're three structurally different attractors serving overlapping but distinct UHNW profiles. Here's the geography that actually maps.
MAS's New 3-Month Family Office Approval Regime: What Changes for Practitioners
MAS's 3-month family office approval target is widely read as 'easier.' At the practitioner level it's the opposite — it shifts the work earlier in the lifecycle and tightens the front-loaded advisory burden. Here's what actually changes.
SEA's Late-Stage Surge: Five Deals That Tell the Reallocation Story
The late-stage surge narrative gets reduced to a single chart line in most coverage. Five specific deals tell the actual story — what kind of capital came back, what kind didn't, and what shape the next two years take.
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.
China and India Wealth Outflow to Asia: Five Patterns I'm Watching
China is sending out 7,800 millionaires this year; India 3,500. Singapore is receiving 1,600. Behind those headline numbers, five structural patterns are reshaping where Asian wealth gets booked, deployed, and inherited.
The VCC Has Quietly Become Asia's Default Fund Vehicle — Here's Why That Matters
The VCC was launched in 2020 as Singapore's bid for fund domicile share. Five years on, it has become the default rather than the alternative. Here's why that quiet shift matters more than the launch headlines did.
SEA's Funding Reallocation Story (Not the "Recovery" Narrative)
The dominant SEA startup story is 'recovery.' The data doesn't support that — it supports reallocation. Here's the framework I'm using to read where the capital is actually going.
Who's Actually Behind Singapore's 2,000 Family Offices? It's Not the Billionaires
Singapore crossed 2,000 family offices in 2024, but the marginal applicant is now a USD 30-80M wealth holder running a two-person shop, not a billionaire. A practitioner's read on why mid-tier money defaults to 13O over 13U, and what it means if you're advising clients on the move.