MBMG Group, the Bangkok-based financial planning and investment firm, is applying for an expanded licence to offer asset management advisory services in Singapore.

The company, which specialises in financial advice for expatriates, is about to file for an application with the Monetary Authority of Singapore to become a "registered fund management company," it said in a statement. 

According to various media, if the move is approved, Graham Macdonald, founding partner, will relocate from Thailand to the city-state to lead the division. Martin Carey, a former employee at MBMG who is currently working for Nordea Bank in Switzerland, will also reportedly be joining Macdonald.

MBMG has been operating in Singapore since 2011 but has been limited to offering taxation advisory and consulting services, neither of which require regulatory approval. It has two offices in Thailand and lists around 1,500 individual, corporate and family office clients. 

The MBMG Group brand, which is 51 per cent Thai-owned and 49 per cent British-owned, is made up of MBMG Group Financial Planning, Hamptons Advance Solutions, MBMG Insurance and MBMG Law Office. It records some $200 million in assets under management.