Singapore’s fast-growing 1,000+ Fintech sector includes a thriving Wealthtech segment which is on track to continue growing and maturing. It’s being supported by an increased interest from local investors, strategic acquisition deals, and the growing demand for automated financial advisory services (or Robo-advisors). Many younger consumers are now exploring various investment and wealth management solutions.
But as the Wealthtech sector in Singapore gets more crowded with new service providers, some startups might not be able to keep up with the competition. During H1 2020, there were many Big tech firms and platform providers that branched out into the Fintech sector in order to extend their market share and client base.
Notably, ride-hailing giant Grab acquired Singapore’s business-to-business (B2B) robo-advisory service Bento back in February 2020. Bento has been rebranded to GrabInvest. The company had initially offered a micro-investment platform for Singapore-based consumers (referred to as AutoInvest). AutoInvest lets customers invest with just S$1 in reliable fixed-income funds that are managed by UOB Asset Management and Fullerton Fund Management.
Big Four auditing firm KPMG is now predicting or expecting that there will be more collaborations between Big tech service providers and Fintechs in the future, as both parties aim to continue scaling their business operations.
During H1 2020, there were several key developments in the regulatory landscape with the introduction of the Singapore Payments Service Act, which specifies regulatory guidelines and related licensing requirements for digital asset exchanges.
Currently, Singapore is home to several well-known and established virtual currency exchanges such as Binance and Huobi. The Payments Services Act should help bring more regulatory clarity which may attract interest from global crypto firms and investors, KPMG noted.
Southeast Asia based banks like DBS are planning to diversify their operations by supporting new crypto exchanges and related services. DBS will be offering tokenization, trading and custody services to institutional and accredited investors who are interested in gaining exposure to digital assets.
The Wealthtech100 from last year included several Singapore-headquartered Wealthtech firms such as 360F, Kristal.ai, and Tradesocio.
360F provides wealth advisory distribution and applications services. Its main product is called 360-ProVestment solution and like many other similar products, it leverages AI to offer life protection and addresses wealth management requirements.
Kristal.ai is an AI-enhanced Robo-advisory service that offers personalized strategies for investment portfolios and global investments. Meanwhile, Tradesocio provides a software-as-service (SaaS) solution for the FX market with a Cloud-enabled social trading platform that offers insights regarding high-potential opportunities.
Wealthtech100 is an annual list that’s prepared and released by Fintech Global. It aims to acknowledge the efforts and performance of the 100 most innovative or promising Wealthtech firms.