Onboarding Friction in Asian Markets for EU-based Prop Firms

Anyone else finding the KYB/onboarding process with Asian brokers a bit… anachronistic, shall we say? My prop firm, based in the EU, is looking to diversify our book further into Asian equities, specifically $SET and some of the smaller cap $HSI plays. We're running into some genuine headaches getting set up with local brokers, particularly around compliance documentation and what feels like an endless loop of 'send us this, no not that, the other one.' It's not just the language barrier, though that doesn't help. It's more about the sheer volume of bespoke requests and what feels like a lack of standardised digital solutions compared to what we're used to in London or Frankfurt.

We're talking weeks, sometimes months, for what should be a fairly standard institutional account opening. This inevitably eats into potential alpha, as opportunities don't exactly wait around for paperwork to clear. It also makes scaling across multiple Asian markets a significantly more cumbersome exercise than it needs to be. Curious if other firms, especially those looking from outside the region into these markets, have found workarounds or specific brokers that are genuinely more streamlined, or if this is just the 'cost of doing business' out here. It's becoming a significant drag on our expansion plans.