CitizenX, the Swiss citizenship platform that bought Plan B Passport in April 2025, has acquired NTL Trust, the advisory firm founded in the Caribbean in 1994. The deal leaves out NTL’s trust and asset protection business.
CitizenX co-founder and CEO Alex Recouso told IMI that the transaction covers ntltrust.com and that Nick Stevens, managing director of the NTL Trust group, “joins CitizenX as a strategic advisor, while continuing to run the NTL Trust brand.” He did not disclose what CitizenX paid.
Stevens said NTL had talked to “several industry players who could offer resources and scale” before settling on CitizenX.
“NTL Trust has always been a boutique firm, and we wanted a partner that would help us grow without losing that character,” he told IMI.
Trust book excluded
Recouso said CitizenX is “laser-focused on citizenship” and will “double down on citizenship programs and post-citizenship services.” NTL will provide “complementary solutions for passport portfolio management” and take CitizenX further into business-to-business (B2B) work.
NTL’s trust and asset protection book is out “at the moment,” Recouso said, but he sees “a potential expansion into wealth services in the future” if the partnership works out.
Recouso and Stevens did not say what becomes of NTL’s residence and corporate services work, or which of its companies and government licenses are part of the deal.
NTL’s choice
CitizenX “stood out,” Stevens said, because “its technology complements our experience, while its white-glove, concierge approach closely matches our own.” NTL brings “deep B2B expertise that we believe can open new opportunities for CitizenX.”
NTL wanted to join forces with “people who see the world the way we do,” he said, describing them as “pro-technology, pro-free market and fundamentally committed to individual sovereignty.”
Recouso said the two firms are “ideologically aligned” and want “to advance the sovereign individual thesis,” which borrows the title of the 1997 book by James Dale Davidson and William Rees-Mogg. The deal should also help more countries “raise foreign direct investment through citizenship issuance,” he said.
“I always knew Nick was one of us,” said Katie Ananina, who founded Plan B Passport and is now CitizenX’s chief marketing officer.
“In the IMI Pro chat [Telegram group], I always felt like we have a similar thought process and take on industry developments,” she said, referring to the members’ chat of IMI Pro, IMI’s professional network.
Eastern Caribbean reach
Recouso cited NTL’s “strong Caribbean footprint,” a phrase Stevens also used. NTL lists agent or promoter licenses for the citizenship by investment programs of Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, Saint Kitts and Nevis, and Saint Lucia, and has offices in all four countries. CitizenX’s own published licenses cover São Tomé and Príncipe, Sierra Leone, and El Salvador.
Recouso would not say how many staff or offices the enlarged group will have. “Our priority is improving the citizens’ experience and we will do whatever brings us closer to that,” he said.
NTL name stays
CitizenX will keep the NTL Trust name, much as it kept Plan B Passport’s after buying Ananina’s firm. “Plan B Passport was acquired 18 months ago and it’s proven to be a great decision for all,” Ananina said.
“We recognize the value and strength of NTL Trust’s brand and will keep it,” Recouso said. He wants the brand “to contribute to CitizenX becoming a household name.”
NTL Trust clients will soon receive invitations to open CitizenX accounts. During “an interim period,” NTL will be “progressively onboarding new clients to the CitizenX engine,” while existing clients get access to CitizenX’s technology and concierge services. The consultation button on NTL’s website already opens a CitizenX booking page.
Consolidation
“We are seeing a lot of changes and consolidation in the industry at the moment, and it makes sense to join forces and create a bigger group,” Recouso said. The trend, he added, “has historically been for companies to fragment.”
“Technology companies disrupt brick-and-mortar industries, then absorb the best traditional players,” Ananina said. “Real estate, banking and travel have all gone this way, and citizenship is next.”
Other recent mergers and acquisitions in the market include BLS International’s purchase of Citizenship Invest, reportedly for US$31 million, in September 2024, and Vancis Capital’s merger with Global Residence Index two months later.
Arton Capital added AURAY Capital Canada’s Quebec Immigrant Investor Program clients to its books in April.
Stevens agreed that the residence and citizenship by investment market “needs greater consolidation and cooperation,” citing “the way the new Argentina program is being structured.” “But not consolidation for its own sake,” he said.
Recouso thanked IMI “for brokering the transaction,” which happened through IMI’s Private Briefings.
Recouso said that after Plan B Passport, he was “excited to do it again and bigger.”
“We are always open to the right partners, and I think it shows!” he said.
