Legal

Regulatory Status and Standards

HPT Group is an independent advisory consultancy. This page sets out our standing, our operating standards, indemnity cover, complaints procedure and the way regulated work is delivered through licensed counterparties.

Last updated: 1 May 2026.

1. What HPT Group is

HPT Group is an independent cross-border advisory consultancy. We design and coordinate legal, banking, tax and corporate structures for HNW founders, family offices and operating businesses. Our principal place of business is Hong Kong SAR, with a second office in London.

HPT Group is not a licensed Trust or Company Service Provider, fund administrator, banking institution, immigration agent or regulated investment adviser in any jurisdiction. Where an engagement requires a regulated counterparty (for example, the formation and ongoing maintenance of an entity, the appointment of a trustee, the application for a financial-services licence, or the operation of a regulated fund vehicle), HPT identifies, briefs and coordinates the regulated counterparty. The regulated work is performed by that counterparty under its own authorisation. HPT's role is advisory: designing the structure, documenting the decisions, coordinating the parties and producing the working-papers file.

2. How regulated work is delivered

Most of the matters described on hpt.group involve at least one regulated activity in at least one jurisdiction. The pattern is consistent across engagements:

Formation work is delivered by a licensed TCSP, formation agent or corporate-services provider in the relevant jurisdiction, on its own authorisation.
Trustee and fiduciary appointments are taken by a regulated trustee in the relevant jurisdiction.
Banking introductions are made to regulated banks and electronic- money institutions; the client's banking relationship is with the bank, not with HPT.
Licensing applications (EMI, PSP, VASP, iGaming, fund manager) are prepared by HPT and filed with the relevant regulator by the client or a licensed local counsel; HPT does not hold the resulting licence.
Investment-fund administration is delivered by a licensed fund administrator in the fund's domicile.
Tax and legal advice on a specific jurisdiction is obtained from qualified counsel admitted to practise in that jurisdiction.

Every engagement letter names the counterparties, the regulated entity in each leg of the structure, and the scope of HPT's advisory role separately from the scope of the regulated parties' work.

3. Customer due diligence

Although HPT is not statutorily required to perform anti-money-laundering due diligence as a regulated firm, we apply Customer Due Diligence and Enhanced Due Diligence procedures aligned with Financial Action Task Force (FATF) guidance before commencing any engagement. These procedures include identity and address verification, beneficial- ownership confirmation, source-of-funds review, sanctions screening (UK, EU, US OFAC, UN and other applicable lists) and politically-exposed-person (PEP) screening.

We will decline an engagement where the client cannot satisfy the due-diligence requirements, where the matter or counterparty appears on a sanctions list, or where the structure as proposed is not capable of supporting transparent reporting under CRS, FATCA, DAC8 or other applicable information-exchange regimes.

4. Information security

HPT operates an information-security programme aligned with ISO/IEC 27001 principles, although the firm is not formally certified to ISO 27001. Client information is encrypted in transit (TLS 1.2 or higher) and at rest. Access is restricted to engaged directors and authorised support staff on a need-to-know basis, with multi-factor authentication required for systems holding client information.

5. Independence and conflicts of interest

HPT does not accept commissions, rebates, referral fees or other forms of payment from banks, formation agents, trustees, developers, licensors or any other counterparty to whom we introduce clients. The advisory fee paid by the client under the engagement letter is the firm's total compensation for the matter.

If a conflict of interest arises during an engagement, we will disclose it in writing and either decline the conflicted part of the matter, refer the client to alternative counsel, or seek written informed consent from all affected clients before proceeding.

6. Complaints procedure

We take complaints seriously and treat them as opportunities to improve. If you have a complaint about the advisory work delivered by HPT, write to compliance@hpt.group, marked “Formal complaint”, or to the principal director at our principal place of business. Please include: your name and contact details, the relevant engagement letter or matter reference, a description of the complaint, what you would like as a resolution, and any supporting documentation.

We will acknowledge your complaint within five business days, investigate it and provide a written response within twenty business days, or where the matter is complex, will tell you when to expect a substantive response. Where the complaint relates to a regulated counterparty introduced through HPT (a bank, a TCSP, a trustee), the counterparty's own complaints procedure also applies and we will help you escalate to them.

7. Record-keeping

Engagement records are retained for a minimum of seven years from the close of the engagement. Working papers, memoranda and supporting documentation are retained for thirty years as part of our internal file-integrity standard. Records are stored in encrypted, access-controlled systems.

8. Contact

Compliance and complaints: compliance@hpt.group. General enquiries: enquiries@hpt.group.