Metis Global (Cook Islands)

Metis Global (Cook Islands) Limited is a licensed trustee company regulated by the Cook Islands Financial Supervisory Commission under the Trustee Companies Act 2014. The company is a subsidiary of Metis Global Group Limited, a Hong Kong-based financial group founded in 2013 by Dr. German Cheung.

Metis Global Group operates through three licensed entities: Metis Global Limited in Hong Kong (regulated under the Trustee Ordinance and Trust or Company Service Provider License), Metis Global (Singapore) Pte. Limited (regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore), and the Cook Islands entity. The registered office is at Bermuda House, Tutakimoa Road, Rarotonga.

Market Position and Approach

Metis Global Group was founded to bring trust services to individuals below the ultra-high-net-worth threshold. Traditional Cook Islands trust formation involves bespoke trust deeds, individual trustee negotiations, and setup costs starting at $20,000 or more. Metis developed structured financial plans that bundle savings, investment management, and trust formation into packaged products aimed at Asian markets.

The company offers several plan tiers. Smart II and Smart Pro are regular savings plans with contributions starting at $300 per month over terms of 5 to 30 years. Sparkle II and Sparkle Pro are lump-sum plans with a $20,000 minimum. In January 2026, Metis CI launched Starry Pro, a regular savings plan with a $500 monthly minimum and a 20-year contribution period. Assets under Starry Pro are held at DBS Bank in Singapore, segregated from Metis CI’s own assets.

For high-net-worth individuals, Metis CI offers the Soter Trust Plan—a discretionary trust that combines estate planning with asset protection under Cook Islands law. Soter is the closest product to a traditional bespoke asset protection trust, though it still operates as a packaged plan rather than through a fully custom trust deed drafted by the settlor’s own counsel.

The firm has received five “Excellence Award of Trustee Service” recognitions from the Chinese-language edition of Bloomberg Businessweek’s Financial Institution Awards between 2019 and 2024.

Regulatory Status

Metis Global (Cook Islands) Limited holds an FSC trustee license subject to the same licensing requirements as every Cook Islands trustee: minimum paid-up capital, professional indemnity insurance, fit and proper person clearance, and ongoing regulatory oversight. The Hong Kong and Singapore entities hold separate licenses from their respective regulators.

Licensing across three jurisdictions—Hong Kong, Singapore, and the Cook Islands—means the group satisfies compliance standards in three distinct regulatory environments. Hong Kong’s Trust or Company Service Provider regime and Singapore’s MAS oversight are both regarded as stringent by international standards. The Singapore entity is audited by Ernst & Young.

Services

Metis Global provides Cook Islands trust formation and administration, LLC formation, and related corporate services. Most of its trust business flows through the structured plan products rather than through individually negotiated trust deeds.

The group’s multi-jurisdictional structure allows settlors to access services through either Hong Kong or Singapore, with the Cook Islands entity serving as the licensed trustee. This can simplify onboarding for settlors who already have banking or advisory relationships in those cities.

Institutional History

Metis Global Group was founded in 2013 and expanded from Hong Kong to the Cook Islands and Singapore. The group celebrated its tenth anniversary in 2023. Compared to Cook Islands trustees with 35 or more years of operating history—Southpac and Portcullis among them—Metis Global is a younger institution.

Institutional age matters when choosing a Cook Islands trustee because trustees with multi-decade track records have administered trusts through actual creditor challenges, banking disruptions, and regulatory changes. They have demonstrated willingness to resist foreign court pressure over sustained periods. Metis Global has built its record during a relatively stable period and has not yet faced the kind of extended adversarial litigation that defines the jurisdiction’s older firms.

Considerations for U.S. Settlors

Metis Global’s primary market is Asia, and its marketing, product design, and organizational structure reflect that orientation. The structured plan products (periodic contributions, investment-integrated allocation, bundled pricing) are wealth accumulation tools. They differ from the lump-sum-funded, attorney-drafted asset protection trusts that U.S. settlors typically need.

U.S. asset protection trusts are structured as foreign grantor trusts with specific compliance obligations. They require a duress clause, spendthrift provisions, and a trust deed drafted by U.S. counsel to support the impossibility defense and satisfy IRC sections 671 through 679. The trustee must be prepared to refuse compliance with U.S. court orders during litigation.

The Soter Trust Plan is the closest Metis CI product to a bespoke asset protection trust. U.S. settlors should verify the Cook Islands entity’s direct experience administering U.S. grantor trusts, its coordination with U.S. tax preparers on Forms 3520 and 3520-A, and its responsiveness to U.S. counsel during contested proceedings.

The Cook Islands FSC licenses a small number of trustee companies, each operating under the same regulatory baseline but differing in institutional history, fee structure, and market orientation.