I
Balance sheet & consolidation
Every account, policy, property, shareholding and liability in one statement, reconciled monthly. Most families have never seen this on a single page.
CASSIAPartners
0years from today
Kuala Lumpur · Fee-only · Multi-family office
Year 0 – 2 · The handover
First we find out what you actually own.
Most families arrive with eleven bank relationships, four insurance policies nobody can explain and a shareholding structure drawn up in 1998. Year one is consolidation, a written investment policy, and an honest balance sheet.
Year 3 – 7 · Compounding quietly
Then almost nothing happens, on purpose.
The allocation is set, rebalanced to a rule rather than a feeling, and left alone. This is the stretch where most advisers manufacture activity to justify a fee. Ours does not change, so we do not have to.
Year 8 – 15 · The next generation appears
Children become adults with opinions about money.
We bring them into the room early — a family assembly, an education plan, and a first portfolio of their own that is small enough to learn on and real enough to matter.
Year 16 – 24 · Succession becomes real
The structure has to survive a difficult year.
Wills, trusts, shareholder agreements and a business succession plan that has been tested against the awkward scenarios rather than the tidy ones. We convene the lawyers; we do not replace them.
Year 25 – 30 · Stewardship
The question changes from growth to purpose.
By now the capital outlives the plan. Philanthropy, a family charter, and a third generation that knows why the money exists — which is the only thing that has ever kept one intact.
Our stance
Four things we will not do, in writing.
Every one of these costs us revenue. That is precisely why they are worth telling you about before you ask.
- No.
We do not sell products
No unit trusts, no insurance, no structured notes, no private placements of our own. We receive nothing from any provider, ever, and our accounts are open to a client who wants to check.
- No.
We do not hold your money
Assets sit with independent custodians in your name. We have advisory and, where you grant it, discretionary trading authority — never the ability to move cash to ourselves.
- No.
We do not charge on transactions
One annual fee, published below, invoiced quarterly. Nothing we recommend changes what we earn, which is the only structure under which advice can be trusted.
- No.
We do not forecast markets
We will not tell you where the KLCI ends the year, because nobody knows and the people who claim to are selling something. We will tell you what your plan survives.
What we do
Five mandates, usually taken in this order.
II
Investment policy & portfolio
A written policy first, a portfolio second. Low-cost, globally diversified, currency-aware for a family whose spending is in Ringgit and whose assets are not.
III
Structures & succession
Trusts, wills, foundations, shareholder and buy-sell agreements — designed with your lawyers and tax advisers, coordinated by us so nothing contradicts anything else.
IV
The operating business
For families whose wealth is still mostly one company: concentration risk, dividend policy, a realistic view of what the business is worth, and what happens if it is sold.
V
Family governance
An annual family assembly, a written charter, and financial education for the next generation. Slow, unglamorous, and the single best predictor of whether capital survives a transfer.
Fees
Published, tiered, and invoiced — not deducted quietly.
Charged on advised assets, calculated on the average of four quarter-end valuations, billed in arrears. Nothing is taken from the portfolio without an invoice you have seen first.
| Advised assets | Annual rate | On this band |
|---|---|---|
| First RM 5 million | 0.85% | RM 42,500 |
| Next RM 15 million | 0.55% | RM 82,500 |
| Next RM 30 million | 0.35% | RM 105,000 |
| Above RM 50 million | 0.20% | By agreement |
| Example — a RM 20 million family | 0.63% blended | RM 125,000 a year |
Also included
- Consolidated reporting and an annual review meeting
- Coordination with your lawyers, auditors and tax advisers
- Family assembly facilitation, once a year
- Next-generation financial education sessions
Not included
- Custodian and platform charges, paid direct at cost
- Underlying fund costs — we target under 0.20% weighted
- Legal drafting and tax filing by third parties
- A minimum engagement of RM 40,000 a year applies
Our average client relationship is nine years and our published fee has been reduced twice in that period, both times because scale allowed it. It has never been raised.
Custody & oversight
Where your assets actually sit.
The most important page on any wealth manager’s website, and the one most of them do not have.
- Legal title
- Assets are held in your name or your structure’s name at the custodian. Cassia Partners is never the account holder.
- Custodians
- Licensed banks and custodians in Malaysia and Singapore, selected with you. You may keep an existing relationship.
- Authority we hold
- Advisory by default. Discretionary only where you sign for it, and limited to trading — never to withdrawal.
- Statements
- You receive them directly from the custodian as well as from us. If the two ever disagree, the custodian is right.
- Regulation
- Licensed by the Securities Commission Malaysia. Professional indemnity cover in force and disclosed on request.
- Audit
- Annual independent audit of the firm, and an annual reconciliation of every client position against custodian records.
People
Six of us, and you will know all six.
A deliberate ceiling of forty families. Beyond that the thing that makes this work — knowing your circumstances without being briefed — stops being true.
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Tan Sri Cheah Wei Ling
Founding Partner
CFA · 28 years · previously head of private clients at a regional bank
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Adeline Ho
Partner, Investments
CFA, CAIA · 19 years · portfolio construction and manager selection
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Rajeev Sundaram
Partner, Structures
LLB, TEP · 22 years · trusts, succession and cross-border estates
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Farah Ismail
Director, Family Governance
MSc Family Business · 14 years · assemblies, charters, next generation
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Lim Kah Meng
Director, Reporting
CA(M) · 16 years · consolidation, reconciliation and performance
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Nurul Aziz
Client Director
17 years · the person who answers when you call
Questions
Asked in first meetings, answered here instead.
Is there a minimum?
In practice, around RM 5 million of advised assets — the RM 40,000 minimum fee stops making sense below that. If you are below it we will say so and suggest a lower-cost route rather than take the engagement.
Do you beat the market?
Sometimes, over some periods, and we do not consider it the point. The measurable value we add is in tax, structure, cost, behaviour and succession — all of which are far more reliable than manager selection.
What if we already have a private banker?
Many clients keep theirs. We sit on your side of the table and review what they propose. Some relationships survive that scrutiny well; others do not, and it is better to find out.
Can we start with one thing?
Yes. A one-off consolidation and second opinion is a fixed fee from RM 18,000, with no obligation to continue. Roughly half of those become ongoing relationships and we are content either way.
How do we leave?
Thirty days’ notice, in writing, no exit fee. Your assets never move because they were never with us. We hand over records to whoever comes next without friction.
A first conversation costs nothing.
Ninety minutes, no documents required, no presentation. We ask what you own, what you are worried about and who depends on it. If we are not the right firm for you we will say so in that meeting and tell you who might be.
- In person at our office, or wherever suits
- Nothing signed, nothing sold, no follow-up sequence
- Family members welcome, and usually a good idea
Enquiries
03 2055 1900 partners@cassia.exampleCassia Partners Sdn Bhd
Level 22, Menara Binjai,
2 Jalan Binjai, KLCC,
50450 Kuala Lumpur
Office Mon – Fri, 09:00 – 18:00
Licence Capital Markets Services, Securities Commission Malaysia