The North America Market Entry Playbook

Capital, wealth and talent are concentrating in North America, and a growing share of it is landing in South Florida.

The big consultancies agree on the direction: growth is shifting to private markets, retail and wealth channels, and AI-led distribution, and North America is where those shifts are deepest. Read side by side, their 2025 and 2026 research points to six forces an entrant can use.

EY's wealth research adds a warning that cuts the other way: weak net new asset growth and squeezed investment margins are pressuring incumbents. That pressure is why many US distributors and platforms are open to differentiated products and partners from abroad.

Florida gives an international firm US market access, a deep local client base and a bridge to Latin America from one Eastern-time base, at a lower tax and operating cost than New York.

• The economy is country-sized and still growing fast. The BEA puts Florida's 2025 GDP at $1.83 trillion, up about 6.3% on 2024. The Florida Chamber Foundation ranks that as the world's 14th or 15th largest economy if Florida were a nation. (BEA, Florida Trend)

• The money has already moved. Florida led all states with $20.6 billion of net income migrating in from other states in the latest IRS data, and $137 billion over 2019 to 2023. Your future clients are relocating to Florida, not away from it. (Florida Realtors, Miami Realtors)

• The tax case is simple. Florida has no state personal income tax and a 5.5% corporate rate, which helps when recruiting senior US talent. (BriefGlance)

• The financial ecosystem is real, not promotional. Miami hosts JPMorgan, UBS, Citi and Santander plus about 60 other international banks, 600 US commercial banks and roughly 1,800 money managers. Miami ranks among North America's top 10 financial centres in GFCI 39, and 1,106 investment advisory firms have their principal office in the Miami metro. (Family Wealth Report, GFCI 39, Z/Yen, AdvisorCensus)

• The anchor tenants have arrived. Citadel moved its global headquarters to Miami in 2022 and Elliott Management moved to West Palm Beach in 2020. In January 2026 Wells Fargo moved its $16 billion-revenue wealth business headquarters to West Palm Beach, the first big bank to do so. (ValueAdd VC, Financial Planning)

• It is the capital of Latin American wealth. Wealthy Latin American families that once banked in New York now default to Miami, which is why the city is the de facto financial capital of the region. For a European or Asian firm, that makes Florida a two-continent entry point. (Family Wealth Report)

Three hubs, one 100-mile corridor

South Florida is not one market. Choosing where to land is the first real decision.

The honest caveats: office rents, housing and insurance costs have risen sharply, and Latin American business brings heavier anti-money-laundering scrutiny. Both are manageable with the right structure, and both trip up firms that arrive without one.

Most failed entries do not fail on product. They fail on sequencing, credibility and cost. These are the five patterns we see most often.

1. 1

   Treating North America as one market.

   The US alone layers federal regulators over 50 state regimes, and Canada adds provincial ones. A plan that says "launch in the US" without naming the first state, first channel and first 20 target clients is not yet a plan.

2. 2

   Building before selling.

   A large office and a full local hiring plan before the first mandate or contract is how margins disappear. With industry margins already under pressure, fixed cost has to follow revenue, not lead it.

3. 3

   Getting the regulatory order wrong.

   Registration, licensing, entity design, tax and banking have to happen in the right order. Fintechs that need state-by-state licences, and managers that need to choose between registering and relying on an exemption, lose months by signing commercial deals first.

4. 4

   Arriving without local credibility.

   US allocators, platforms and partners want to see US-based decision makers, a recognisable board and references they can call. A strong home-market record rarely travels on its own.

5. 5

   Choosing the wrong route to market.

   The research is clear that growth is flowing through wealth platforms, RIAs, family offices and new wrappers. Firms that only chase large institutions often wait two years for their first ticket.

Each trap has a fix. The fixes depend on your sector, size and home market, which is where generic advice runs out.

We take firms through five phases, and nothing moves to the next phase until its gate is passed. Gates are what keep cost behind revenue.

The framework is the same one we used to open offices across the Americas, Europe, Asia and offshore centres at Apex and Trident. The first three phases typically run as a single 90-day sprint. What changes from client to client is the detail inside each box: which hub, which regulatory route, which partners and which first 20 clients.

The framework is the same for every firm; the opening move is not. Here is where we see the openings in 2026 for each sector, and the questions that decide the route.

The last question is where most of the value sits. The right answer depends on your licences at home, your balance sheet and your timeline, and it is the first thing we work through in a diagnostic.

Tick each statement that is true for your firm today. Eight or more ticks: you are ready to move. Five to seven: you have gaps worth closing before you spend. Under five: start with a diagnostic, not an office.

This playbook shows the map. The route through it is specific to your firm, and that is the work we do with clients. What we deliberately keep out of print:

We have built the thing you are trying to build.

• Apex Fund Services: joined at 8 offices and under $10 billion, and helped grow it to more than 40 offices and over $40 billion in assets under administration in three years, through a PE raise and a 2017 exit
• Trident Fund Services: drove double-digit annual growth and new offices for the fund arm of the Trident Trust Group
• Florida since 2012: worked with prior Florida governors, the Business Development Board of Palm Beach County and the Broward Alliance to put Florida on the map for finance; South East Regional Director for the Hedge Fund Association; seen on CNBC and Fox Business
• A network in 100+ countries across banks, brokers, auditors, law firms, family offices and institutional investors
• A ready-made senior team: fractional C-suite, board seats and directorships, and AI integration with our partner InnoWave