Forensic due diligence · Structured trade finance · Sovereign advisory
Evidence
before
capital.
A mandate is not a narrative. It is a file. FBZ Advisory coordinates institutional mandates through the 7-Stage Forensic Due Diligence Gate, and advances a matter only on documented, authenticated and independently reviewed evidence.
- 01Scoping
- 02Ownership
- 03Documents
- 04Instruments
- 05Perimeter
- 06Evidence pack
- 07Decision
01Operating perimeter
Advisory coordination,
stated plainly.
FBZ Advisory is a management consultancy. Work is scoped as advisory coordination and forensic review, delivered to institutional, sovereign and corporate counterparties under documented engagement terms.
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What we do
Scope mandates, map counterparties, authenticate documentation, assemble indexed evidence packs and report gate decisions to the principal.
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What we do not do
We do not provide regulated financial services, hold client monies, execute transactions, or issue credit, legal, tax or investment advice.
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How decisions are made
Every conclusion is traceable to a source document in the evidence pack. Human judgement — not automation — issues each gate decision.
Regulated activities referenced in any mandate are performed by appropriately licensed third parties under separate engagement.
02Methodology
The 7-Stage Forensic
Due Diligence Gate
Evidence Before Capital™ is the operating standard. A mandate may only proceed to the next stage when the evidence required at the current stage has been produced, reviewed and accepted.
01 Mandate scoping & conflict screen
Define the decision to be supported, the parties affected, and the limits of the engagement. Screen for conflicts, sanctioned exposure and capacity to act before any document is reviewed.
Evidence producedEngagement letter · scope matrix · conflict declaration
02 Counterparty & beneficial ownership mapping
Identify every legal person in the chain, the natural persons behind them, and the authority under which each counterparty signs.
Evidence producedKYB file · ownership chart · sanctions and adverse-media log
03 Documentary forensics
Examine the documentary set for authenticity, consistency, provenance and internal contradiction, including metadata and execution-form defects.
Evidence producedAuthentication memorandum · provenance log · discrepancy register
04 Instrument & obligor verification
Test the commercial and payment instruments in the transaction against issuing parties and paying entities through independent channels.
Evidence producedVerification schedule · obligor confirmations · instrument status record
05 Regulatory & perimeter review
Map each contemplated activity to the licensing, registration and conduct obligations of the relevant jurisdictions, and record where licensed third parties are required.
Evidence producedPerimeter summary · licensing register check · jurisdiction matrix
06 Evidence pack assembly
Consolidate findings into a single indexed pack with a red-flag register, unresolved items and an explicit statement of what the evidence does not support.
Evidence producedIndexed evidence pack · red-flag register · decision memorandum
07 Gate decision & monitoring handover
Record proceed, condition or decline with reasons, then hand over conditions precedent and a monitoring calendar to the principal.
Evidence producedGate decision record · conditions precedent · monitoring calendar
03Applied intelligence
AUREUS AI™
Assistive intelligence for research and decision support.
A working aid inside the gate. It retrieves and cross-references documents in the evidence pack, surfaces inconsistencies for the reviewer's attention, and helps draft working memoranda. It is deliberately narrow in scope and subordinate to the engagement record.
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Evidence-linked output
Every observation must cite the source document it derives from. Unsourced output is discarded, not published.
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Human authority
No gate decision, opinion or recommendation is issued by the system. A named reviewer accepts or rejects each finding.
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No advice, no scoring
It does not issue credit, legal, tax or investment advice, and does not generate counterparty ratings.
04Practice
Where the gate is applied
Four engagement lines, one evidentiary standard. Each mandate is scoped to a defined decision and a defined record.
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01
Forensic due diligence
Independent review of counterparties, documentation and transaction narratives before a principal commits capital or reputation.
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02
Structured trade finance coordination
Advisory coordination of documentary and verification workstreams across buyers, sellers, financiers and their appointed advisers.
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03
Sovereign & institutional advisory
Programme-level advisory support for public and institutional counterparties, framed around documented mandates and defined decision points.
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04
Governance & entity readiness
Entity, records and governance preparation so a counterparty can withstand institutional review before it is presented.
05Principal
Brendan Humphrey
MBA (Oxon) · PgDipAI · CTFP
Brendan Humphrey leads FBZ Advisory. His practice centres on the discipline of evidence: establishing what can be substantiated about a counterparty, a document or a transaction before a decision is taken.
He holds an MBA from the University of Oxford, a Postgraduate Diploma in Artificial Intelligence, and the Certified Trade Finance Professional designation. Mandates are accepted personally, and correspondence is handled by him rather than routed through a desk.
- Degree
- MBA, University of Oxford
- Postgraduate
- PgDip Artificial Intelligence
- Designation
- CTFP
“Nothing advances on representation alone.”
Operating standard · Evidence Before Capital™
06Briefing request
Open a mandate
conversation.
Briefings are accepted where the decision to be supported and the counterparties involved can be stated plainly. Outline the matter opposite; correspondence is handled directly by the principal.
- Legal entity
- FBZ NZ Limited
- NZBN
- 9429050932139
- Company number
- 8506192
- Enquiries
- [email protected]