In private wealth management, alignment is often discussed in broad terms. For Ann Marie Regal, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Avrio Wealth, it is a matter of business structure: how the adviser is paid, what products are used, whether commissions exist, and whether the client can clearly see the cost of advice.
Avrio Wealth has built its proposition around fiduciary advice, flat fees, low-cost ETF portfolios, single stock portfolios in various currencies, and financial planning. The firm does not manufacture internal products, does not rely on trails or retrocessions, and does not use private banks as its core implementation route. Its model is designed to reduce the commercial tension that can arise when advice is tied to product distribution.
The result is a planning-led wealth management business focused on client goals, cross-border complexity, tax-aware implementation, transparent reporting and long-term advice. For Ann Marie, the core question is not whether portfolios matter. It is whether the client’s full financial life is being structured around their interests, rather than around what the market is incentivised to sell.
Key Takeaways
Avrio’s model is built around fiduciary advice: Ann Marie defines fiduciary duty as putting the client’s interests ahead of the adviser’s commercial interest. As CFP professionals they are ethically and legally bound to act in their clients’ best interest at all times.
The firm uses a transparent fee structure: Avrio works on a flat-fee and mostly invoice-based model rather than AUM, trails, retrocessions or embedded product economics.
Portfolios are low-cost and goal-based: The firm uses ETF portfolios or single stock portfolios and structures different pools of capital around time horizon, liquidity need and financial objective.
Financial planning sits at the centre: Around 95% of Avrio’s clients are planning clients, with advice covering retirement, property, education, philanthropy, life events and cross-border tax considerations.
Product-led advice remains a concern: Ann Marie says clients often seek alternatives when they feel they are being sold to, rather than advised.
Tax planning is integrated but not filed in-house: Avrio works with their client’s preferred external accountants and lawyers, while reviewing returns and using internal tax expertise to support planning.
GIPS is a strategic reporting initiative: The firm is working towards Global Investment Performance Standards (GIPS) verification to strengthen performance transparency and institutional credibility.
AI is being assessed as an operational tool: Avrio sees potential for AI to support document review, insurance analysis, portfolio comparison and planning workflows.
Growth is linked to resilience: Ann Marie says selective expansion is becoming important as technology costs, infrastructure needs and industry consolidation increase.
The future advisory edge is advice: As AI and technology reduce manual work, she believes advisers will need to justify their value beyond asset management alone.
Ann Marie frames fiduciary duty as a standard that should shape every decision inside an advisory firm.
“What is a fiduciary? My view is someone who puts the client’s best interest before theirs as an adviser and as a company” she says.
At Avrio, that principle is expressed through the firm’s operating model. The portfolios are low cost. The firm does not create its own products. It does not take trails or retrocessions. Commissions are avoided, except where insurance may be used as part of a financial plan. Spreads are kept narrow, and the client pays directly for advice.
That direct payment structure is central to Ann Marie’s view of alignment. For most clients, Avrio sends an invoice, they pay it, and the economics of the relationship are visible. There is no need for advisory remuneration to sit inside products or be recovered indirectly through distribution arrangements.
“We send them an invoice. They pay us; that is how clean it is,” she says.
Ann Marie acknowledges that this can be culturally difficult in parts of Asia. Many clients do not want to see an invoice, and many have grown used to advisory costs being embedded elsewhere. In the US, she says, the fiduciary concept is more familiar, particularly for CFP professionals. In Asia, she has been having the same conversation for many years and remains unconvinced that the market has shifted enough.
Her point is not that every client immediately understands the distinction. It is that the distinction becomes obvious when clients begin questioning whether the advice they are receiving is truly for them.
Product Culture and the Search for Alignment
Ann Marie sees product-led advice as one of the industry’s most persistent structural problems. If advisers and institutions are rewarded through product distribution, recommendations can become difficult for clients to interpret. The product may be suitable, but the client may still not know whether it is being shown because it is the best fit, the most available, the most profitable, or simply the product currently being pushed.
She says this creates a market dynamic in which wealth managers feel pressure to offer what others are offering. If one institution shows a product and another does not, assets may stay with the institution that gives the client access to it.
That pressure can leave clients with portfolios they do not understand. Ann Marie recalls cases where clients arrive with complex products, structured notes, expensive mutual funds or overlapping exposures. In some cases, even the original relationship manager appears unable to clearly explain what the client owns.
“When a client starts feeling like they are constantly being sold, they look elsewhere,” she says.
One prospect found Avrio online after becoming uneasy about the advice he was receiving. Ann Marie says he had a private banker in Singapore but was looking for a fiduciary, flat-fee adviser. The subsequent portfolio review raised concerns about expensive funds and duplicated exposure.
“He said a little bird on his shoulder was making him think they did not have his best interests,” she says.
That experience is part of why Avrio does not present itself as a product gateway. The firm’s starting point is the client’s plan, not a monthly recommendation list. It does not seek to compete with banks on product inventory. It seeks to compete on clarity, cost and advice.
For Ann Marie, the decision to operate this way is not because of US clients, an SEC licence or a regulatory label. It is because she believes it is the right way to advise.
“It is absolutely the right thing,” she says. “I am from private wealth management in New York. We had some of the oldest money in the US that we managed, and we managed very clean.”
Planning as the Source of Value
Ann Marie does not argue that transparency alone is enough. Avrio still has to build portfolios that perform, manage costs and support client outcomes. But she believes performance has to be assessed within the context of the client’s broader financial life.
Around 95% of Avrio’s clients are planning clients. That means the engagement usually begins with long-term questions about lifestyle, retirement needs, property, education, philanthropy and whether the client can sustain their desired standard of living.
“We believe the planning and the advice is the alpha,” she says.
That applies even at high levels of wealth. Ann Marie says clients with tens of millions of dollars can still worry about whether they will outlive their money, particularly where their lifestyle, spending commitments and family expectations are substantial. The numbers may be larger, but the underlying questions remain familiar.
The portfolio is then structured around the plan. A client buying property in three years should not be invested in the same way as a client funding a 30-year retirement objective. Capital needed for near-term liquidity is treated differently from capital intended for long-term growth. Avrio may therefore run multiple portfolios for the same client; each linked to a specific purpose.
The advice relationship also continues as circumstances change. Divorce, death, job loss, a new child, a relocation or a major property decision can all require a revised plan. Avrio does have some clients who only want investment management, often through referral, but Ann Marie says that is not the firm’s defining model.
“We have never said we are just an EAM,” she says. “We do not just manage your money.”
Custody, Tax and Cross-Border Planning
Avrio’s custodian choices are shaped by client profile, residency and tax status. Many clients have some form of US tax connection, though not all are American citizens. That influences how accounts are structured, what investments are suitable, and which platforms are appropriate.
Ann Marie names Interactive Brokers, Schwab, RBC, Saxo and iFAST among the platforms used by the firm. iFAST may be relevant for Singapore structures such as SRS and CPF, while other custodians may be more suitable for US-connected clients or specific account needs.
The broader point is that implementation cannot be separated from planning. Residency, citizenship, tax reporting, account structure and product suitability all affect the advice.
For clients without a US connection, Singapore tax planning can still matter. For permanent residents and citizens, strategies around tax efficiency and account usage may be relevant. Avrio does not file tax returns in-house, but it does have enrolled agents, uses tax software, works with external accountants and lawyers, and reviews returns before they are submitted.
That review process can identify meaningful errors. Ann Marie says even Singapore tax returns, which may appear relatively simple, are not immune from mistakes. In some cases, correcting those issues has created significant value for the client.
This is one reason Avrio has chosen not to bring tax filing fully in-house. Accountants remain important referral partners, while Avrio focuses on planning, review and coordination.
Key Priorities
Avrio’s near-term priorities centre on strengthening reporting discipline, improving operational efficiency and building the scale needed to support its fiduciary model.
Towards Verified Performance
A major internal initiative for Avrio is its work towards Global Investment Performance Standards verification.
The project is partly a data challenge. Many clients do not arrive with cash ready to be deployed into a clean model. They often transfer long-standing portfolios from other advisers, with holdings that need to be reviewed, tax-managed and gradually repositioned. That process can be especially sensitive for US taxpayers, where selling or restructuring positions may create tax consequences.
“We inherit whatever has been there,” Ann Marie says. “We have very few that just start and go, here is cash.”
The firm is working across around 30 portfolios and does not intend to begin formal verification until the underlying portfolio data is clean. Ann Marie sees the discipline as important because performance reporting can otherwise become too flexible. In her view, some benchmarks in the market appear built around the portfolio after the fact, rather than used as a clear basis for comparison.
Her aim is to make Avrio’s reporting harder to question.
“For us, we can say, look, here is our performance; it is verified,” she says. “We are not saying, maybe this year we will use this benchmark and that year we will use that benchmark.”
The initiative also supports the firm’s growth ambitions. Institutional clients and larger partners are more likely to expect recognised standards, clean reporting and a consistent performance framework. GIPS verification would help Avrio demonstrate that its numbers are calculated and presented with discipline.
AI as an Operational Lever
Avrio is also reviewing where AI can improve efficiency inside the business.
Ann Marie sees the immediate case in work that is detailed, repetitive and time-consuming, but still essential to proper advice. Hiring in Singapore has become more expensive, and the firm is exploring whether AI can reduce the need for additional operational headcount by supporting advisers with summaries, comparisons and document analysis.
The firm has mapped several potential modules and is speaking with external providers through a process similar to an RFP. Its outsourced IT provider in the US is involved, including from a cyber and controls perspective, because client information and system security are central to any adoption decision.
The clearest use case is insurance review. Ann Marie recalls a client who arrived with 28 local insurance policies. A planner had to understand the purpose, maturity, cash value, overlap, tax implications and ongoing relevance of each one.
“As planners, we have to go through all of those policies and get our heads around what they are,” she says. “This is what we want AI to assist us with”
The point is not to automate judgement. It is to organise information faster so advisers can spend more time interpreting the facts, identifying trade-offs and advising the client.
Growth Without Losing the Model
Avrio is also considering expansion beyond its current Singapore and New York base.
Ann Marie says the firm is speaking with people in different jurisdictions, including potential opportunities linked to Europe, Taiwan and the US. The logic is not expansion for its own sake. It is that a firm of Avrio’s type still has to invest in technology, infrastructure, people and systems if it wants to remain competitive.
Her concern is that the advisory market is becoming more competitive, particularly as M&A activity increases and better-capitalised firms invest heavily in infrastructure. A smaller fiduciary business can remain high quality, but it still needs enough scale to keep improving.
“You have two choices,” she says. “You can be a nice kind of mom-and-pop family, grow your business, have a very nice clean business. But in today’s world, where M&A is going on all the time, there is going to be a lot of competition with money to pour into the businesses.”
For Avrio, growth has to remain consistent with the firm’s operating philosophy. Its differentiation is not tied to a bank platform, proprietary product shelf or distribution engine. It is tied to fiduciary advice, flat fees, planning capability and cost discipline. Expansion only strengthens the business if those features remain intact.
Into The Future
Ann Marie believes the traditional AUM model will become harder to defend as technology takes over more manual work.
“I have always believed that the AUM model has to go away,” she says. “I do not know how you can justify charging AUM and charging some of the levels of fees in this world where technology can take over most of the manual.”
Her view is that advisers will need to explain their value more clearly. For a hedge fund, that may be a distinctive investment edge. For EAMs and wealth advisers, she believes the defensible value will increasingly come from advice.
“What is your added value?” she says. “It has got to be some form of advice.”
AI is part of that shift, but Ann Marie does not see it as removing the need for advisers. Clients already use tools such as Claude, Gemini and ChatGPT to explore financial planning questions. Sometimes they bring the output back to Avrio, either as a copied question or as a more informed line of enquiry.
She sees that as useful, provided advisers know how to test the output. AI can give different answers to the same question, cite weak or non-existent sources, or miss context that matters. The adviser’s role is therefore not only to answer, but to verify, interpret and apply.
“It can make you a better adviser too,” she says. “They might bring something to you that you had not considered, or you have to explain something in more detail because they have done some more research.”
She also expects consolidation to remain a major force, though not necessarily in a simple one-way direction. In the US, firms are being acquired, but new RIAs are also being formed as advisers break away or start their own businesses. That suggests a future shaped by both scale and independence.
For Ann Marie, the broader direction is clear: fees will be challenged, AI will reshape workflows, and advice will have to become more explicit as the core value proposition.