The ink is dry on our new SFC Type 9 asset management license in Hong Kong launched in September 2025. The standard industry interpretation is predictable: AWAIM is chasing assets in Asia. While serving international high-net-worth investors and family offices in the region is a natural benefit, the strategic rationale is far more contrarian and, I believe, far more critical for the future of fiduciary advice.
We expanded to Hong Kong to solve a growing research problem.
The consensus view is that we are entering an era of deglobalization. Supply chains are reshoring, geopolitical blocs are solidifying, and capital markets are decoupling. In our firm’s view, this fragmentation means the next decade’s alpha won’t come from a single dominant market but from navigating starkly divergent regional cycles. Afterall, our withdrawal-oriented clients can no longer tolerate an entirely lost decade of less than 0% price level return, like what the US stock market delivered from January 1, 2000 to December 31, 2012.
This creates a practical challenge for U.S.-based RIAs managing global tactical portfolios. How do you accurately assess non-U.S. risk and opportunity when your primary information diet is filtered through a U.S. lens? You can’t truly understand the policy shifts in Beijing, the consumer confidence on the streets of ASEAN, or the liquidity dynamics in North Asian capital markets from a screen in Century City (where our U.S. operations are based).
Remote analysis is insufficient. As markets disintegrate, the value of on-the-ground, first-hand research – what we call "intimate knowledge acquisition" –skyrockets.
There’s a profound difference between a week-long research trip and having a permanent, licensed operation. A local presence embeds you in the regulatory dialogue, the professional community, and the regional information flow. It allows for continuous, nuanced insight that is essential for the proactive, forward-looking risk assessment that underpins our portfolio strategies.
This is grounded in verifiable engagement, not abstract theorizing. This conviction has already driven portfolio decisions. Recently, within our tactical strategies, we proactively reallocated assets from U.S. large-cap equities to capitalize on emerging trends in non-U.S. and emerging markets. That wasn’t a top-down macro bet made from a spreadsheet. It was a move informed by a research framework that demands understanding ground-level realities.
For RIAs who claim a global multi-asset mandate, the fiduciary duty is evolving. If your investment thesis requires understanding a world where the U.S. is one of several major, disconnected economic engines, then a physical commitment with those other engines is not a luxury – it’s a necessity.
The Hong Kong expansion is the logical, physical conclusion of our investment philosophy. It’s an admission that in a fractured world, you can’t manage global capital from just one corner of it. We didn’t just go to Hong Kong to gather assets. We went to gather intelligence, to sharpen our edge, and to fulfill our duty to clients who need us to see the whole board, clearly, no matter which way the pendulum of globalization swings.
Ivan Illán is founder & chief investment officer of AWAIM®, delivering global macro tactical strategies to investors globally through its U.S. SEC RIA and Hong Kong SFC Type 9 licensed company.
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