Digital Private Bank Hits Singapore

Another digital wealth manager is poised to enter the Singapore market. How does the newest entrant seek to grab market share off rivals?

Kristal will launch in Singapore on Thursday, as reported. The city-state would be the wealth manager’s third market, after Hong Kong and India.

The platform allows investors to pick and choose investment strategies – so-called Kristals – among independent advisers and portfolio managers.

With the glut of digital efforts hitting the market, how is Kristal carving itself a niche?

«Sandbox» Shield

It is meant to service mass affluent clients who are not getting the service that they want today from their wealth managers and private bankers,» co-founder Asheesh Chanda said.

Kristal will operate under a shielded «sandbox» permit offered as a regulatory light-touch testing ground for start-ups which allows them to take a limited amount of client money.

DBS and Cyberport Ties

Kristal already manages an undisclosed amount of funds from retail and affluent clients, and says it will keep working on a machine-learning algorithm to feed its own strategies for its portfolios.

«We expect to exit the sandbox in nine months and then we have to decide what kind of licence we take,» Chanda said.

Kristal completed a «pre-accelerator» program backed by DBS last year, and is part of Cyberport’s incubation in Hong Kong this year.

Interactive Brokers, Saxo Bank

Clients can invest as little as S$1,000 in exchange-traded funds for equities, bonds, foreign exchange, options and futures.

Kristal’s fees hinge on investment strategies: bond portfolios are cheap, while an alternative investment-heavy one will cost more, Chanda said.

Kristal uses Interactive and Saxo Bank in Singapore and Hong Kong for execution and as asset custodians.