2025: Reflections on the Year and the Road Ahead

As we close another year of growth and transformation, our Founder and CEO reflects on the firm’s journey, the strategic choices that shaped the year, and the principles guiding the road ahead.

Reflections on the Year and the Road Ahead

As the year comes to an end, it feels like the right moment to pause and reflect on what we have built, what we have learned, and where we are heading.

This past year has been demanding and energising in equal measure. It has reinforced a belief I have held since the earliest days of the firm. Sustainable growth does not come from momentum alone. It comes from clarity of purpose, disciplined execution, and people who care deeply about the quality of their work.

Over the last twelve months, we continued to strengthen our presence across key markets in the GCC, reinforcing our position as one of the region’s leading governance, risk, and compliance advisors. Across the ADGM, DIFC, and onshore UAE, our work supports institutions operating at the intersection of regulation, innovation, and market development.

Saudi Arabia remains a core strategic market for the firm. Our work across both the Capital Market Authority and the Saudi Central Bank has positioned us as a trusted partner to institutions navigating regulatory authorisation, ongoing compliance, and market evolution. This work reflects the broader transformation underway in the Kingdom and the increasing sophistication of its financial ecosystem.

Beyond Saudi Arabia, we continue to deepen our presence across Qatar, Bahrain, and Kuwait, supporting clients as regulatory frameworks evolve and complexity increases. Together, these markets form a strong and resilient foundation for our regional platform.

Alongside our regional growth, we are actively executing our plans in London and Singapore. Both are critical global financial centres, and our focus is on building high quality sustainable advisory capabilities that connect deep local regulatory expertise with our broader international platform.

This year also marked our expansion into South Africa. Establishing our Cape Town office allows us to access exceptional talent while extending our reach across the African continent, an important step as we continue to build a genuinely global firm.

Technology continues to play an increasingly important role in how regulation is designed, implemented, and supervised. azakaw, our regulatory technology platform, continues to grow across both clients and capabilities. With live products spanning KYC and KYB, corporate compliance, and transaction monitoring, the platform reflects a simple belief. Technology should reduce friction, improve judgement, and allow people to focus on higher value work.

Through azakaw, we are making deliberate and sustained investments in artificial intelligence, particularly Agentic AI, to build regulatory infrastructure designed for the businesses of tomorrow. This is not experimentation at the edges. It is a fundamental shift away from static workflows toward intelligent systems that embed regulatory judgement, operate within clearly defined guardrails, and scale with confidence.

Looking ahead, growth will continue to bring new colleagues, new markets, and new challenges. Building a firm that attracts, develops, and retains exceptional people remains central to our strategy, not for scale alone, but to move faster, collaborate better, and deliver more meaningful outcomes for our clients and wider stakeholders.

Over the years, one lesson has remained constant. What you focus on expands. Attention shapes outcomes. As we look toward 2026 and beyond, I remain confident in what is possible when purpose, people, and discipline are aligned.

Wishing you and your families a successful year ahead.

Jehanzeb Awan

Founder and Chief Executive Officer

j. awan & partners, azakaw, j. awan capital