iFast Financial Review
Adam Fayed
Managing Director - adamfayed.com - helping expats and high-net-worth individuals
Understand how iFast Financial can fit into your global financial services strategy. Here’s a review of iFast Financial, which is regarded as one of the most successful platforms in Singapore.
The iFAST Corporation is a wealth management fintech platform, and as of the 30th of September in the year 2020, it has around $12.59 billion in assets under administration.?
iFAST Corporation was established in the year 2000 in the city-state of Singapore.
The company offers a wide variety of investment products and services to retail and high-net-worth investors throughout Asia, in addition to financial consulting firms, financial institutions, and banks. Multinational corporations are also clients of iFAST Corporation.
The firm has a physical presence not only in Hong Kong but also in Malaysia, China, and India.
If you have any questions or want to invest as an expat or high-net-worth individual, you can email me ([email protected]) or use?these contact options.
This article first appeared on adamfayed.com. Some of the facts might have changed since we wrote it, and nothing written here is formal advice.
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Table of Contents
What Is iFast Financial?
iFAST Corporation Ltd, a firm with its headquarters in Singapore, was able to successfully list itself on the Mainboard of the Singapore Exchange in December of 2014.
In addition to establishing a foothold in China, the iFAST group of enterprises has also set up shop in Malaysia and Hong Kong.
Their business provides investment solutions to a wide variety of clients, including financial advisors, financial institutions, insurance companies, pension fund managers, retail and accredited investors, and multi-national enterprises, amongst others.
The customers are able to efficiently and safely manage their investments thanks to the consolidated online platform provided by iFAST, facilitated by the use of technology and a variety of services.
In 2007, iFAST Corporation embarked on an expansion push by entering the Hong Kong market and purchasing the ING I-WRAP platform, which at the time served as its principal rival. Both of these moves were part of a larger strategy to expand into other markets.
In 2008, iFAST first entered the market in Malaysia. In 2009, Singapore became the first location to host the iFAST Global Prestige (iGP) platform, which was designed with high-net-worth investors and wealth advisors in mind. After that, in 2010, it was extended to include Hong Kong.
SPH AsiaOne Ltd is a stakeholder in iFAST Corporation. SPH AsiaOne Ltd is the internet subsidiary of Singapore Press Holdings, which is the most successful media conglomerate in Singapore. iFAST Corporation was founded in 1999.
Licenses Of iFast Financial
The iFAST group of businesses is in possession of the necessary licenses to operate within the various markets in which they operate.
Fair Dealing
A legal notion known as “fair dealing” permits a limited use of content that is protected by intellectual property rights without the authorization of the owner of such rights.
Through the execution of a variety of different projects, iFAST is able to convincingly show a deep commitment to the adoption of environmentally responsible business practices.
In the context of iFAST’s business practices, “fair dealing” refers to the practice of conducting one’s affairs in a manner that is both open and ethical, with the intention of maximizing value for all parties involved and ensuring that consumers are treated fairly.
Fair dealing is a basic value that iFAST adheres to, and the senior management and board of the firm are dedicated to ensuring that the company’s goals are in accordance with fair dealing results for all stakeholders.
iFAST is an Internet Fast Access Storage (iFAST) provider. The writers admit that the procedure that is the subject of this debate is an ongoing activity, with the most successful strategies continually improving over the course of time.
iFast Financial As An Investment Platform
An investment platform, such as iFAST, simplifies the process of investing by making it possible to access a wide variety of investment goods made by a number of different manufacturers and by permitting the consolidation of these products into a single portfolio.
In essence, an investment platform like this makes the process of investing more efficient.
Check out this best alternative investment platforms in Singapore if you are looking for other options.
Historically, the process of investing in many items required interacting with each individual manufacturer on a separate basis.
This was necessary in order to complete the investment process. The procedure required the completion of a variety of application forms, the transmission of separate payments, the receipt of separate client statements, and the management of several portfolio appraisals.
Because of the complex and labor-intensive nature of this procedure, there were challenges involved in creating a smooth transition when switching between fund managers or investment products.
In addition, the reliance on administrative chores that entail the use of paper led to inefficiencies as well as an increase in costs.
Using a consolidated platform, investors have the capacity to successfully manage their portfolios, which is a significant competitive advantage.
The likelihood for mistakes to occur as a result of paper-based operations is reduced when such processes are conducted electronically via straight-through transactions.
The provision of online administrative and transactional services, a highly efficient operational infrastructure, and a full suite of powerful information technology tools are some of the ways in which iFAST improves the investment process.
This technique leads in significant cost savings and better operational efficiency. Investors get benefits from reduced paperwork, efficient transactions, and a unified picture of their investments as a consequence of these cost reductions and operational effectiveness improvements.
Why Consider iFast Financial?
iFast Financial is widely acknowledged as the foremost independent investment platform in Singapore, renowned for its extensive array of financial tools and comprehensive planning strategies.
The process of making choices among different alternatives can induce a sense of being burdened, thus underscoring the significance of periodically reassessing and modifying one’s financial objectives and investment choices in light of evolving circumstances.
The iFAST platform provides wealth advisers with convenient access to a wide range of unit trusts and ETFs offered by prominent local and international fund managers, all consolidated in a single location.
By opting for an adviser to oversee your investments on the iFAST platform, you can avail yourself of numerous advantages:
Through the utilization of iFast Financial’s platform and collaboration with seasoned advisers, individuals are able to proficiently oversee their investments and actively pursue their financial goals with assurance.
iFast Financial Products And Services
The firm offers a wide variety of products and services, some of which include investment trusts, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), pension accounts, investment parking facilities, and the iFAST Global Prestige platform, which is designed exclusively for high net worth (HNW) customers.
Unit Trusts
The iFast Financial platform provides investors with access to a diverse selection of investment opportunities, including more than 600 funds managed by more than 50 international fund houses.
Because of this, they are able to make complete recommendations and choose the fund managers that are the best fit for each of our customers.
Because there is such a large number of funds to choose from, customers have the ability to create a well-balanced mix of funds that is specifically tailored to meet their own investing objectives.
Why Invest In Unit Trusts With iFast Financial?
When a person invests their money in a unit trust, which is more generally known as a mutual fund, the money they contribute is pooled along with the money contributed by other investors.?
After that, these funds are put to use in order to construct an asset portfolio that is diversified in accordance with the investment strategy and purpose that was outlined for the fund.
For the aim of efficiently managing their wealth, pension funds, individual investors, and sophisticated investors, as well as multinational corporations, almost universally choose unit trusts as the investment vehicle of choice. The following considerations have contributed to this preference:
They Have A Wide Variety Of Products
Unit trusts reduce the risks associated with making investments by diversifying their portfolios over a variety of financial instruments, including stocks, bonds, properties, commodities, and currencies, as well as cash.
When one of the stocks held by a fund is doing poorly relative to its peers, the effect that this has on the fund as a whole is often not considerable owing to the diversification that is accomplished by investments in the stocks of a number of other firms.
Their Management Is Top-Notch
Unit trusts are managed by professional fund managers who have relevant industry knowledge.?
The person is tasked with the main duty of overseeing the investments of investors and making educated investment choices by doing in-depth research and analysis, with the end goal of creating a good risk-adjusted return.
Spread Your Investments Throughout The Globe
Unit trusts are investment entities that are internationally diversified and distribute money across a broad variety of different business sectors. In this way, investors are given a wide variety of choices to choose from.
Do you feel that China will be able to see major economic development in the not too distant future? Are you considering making an investment in the stocks of European property companies?
On behalf of the investors, the fund managers who work inside the unit trusts make a thoughtful selection of the most promising firms that operate within these sectors.
You Require Just A Minimal Initial Expenditure To Get Going
In most cases, the first investment amount starts at one thousand dollars. Investors have the opportunity to set up what is known as a Regular Savings Plan (RSP), through which they may tell the fund to take certain amounts of money out of their bank accounts on a predetermined schedule.
These deductions may begin with as little as one hundred dollars and are put toward the purchase of unit trusts at predetermined intervals.
Investors have the option to obtain exposure to a portfolio that is well-diversified with a relatively modest initial commitment when they purchase units in a unit trust.
They Are Liquid
The vast majority of the unit trusts that may be purchased in Singapore provide investors with the option to buy and sell their holdings on a daily basis.
As long as the orders are received before the trading cut-off time, investors may have confidence that their purchases or redemptions will be performed at the price that is currently in effect for the day, regardless of whether they are buying or selling.
Their Volatility Is Lower
Investing in individual firms has a higher level of risk than investing in unit trusts, which have a diversified portfolio made up of holdings from a number of different companies.
In addition, an investor who has a low risk tolerance level has the option of choosing a fixed income fund which may produce returns that are constant and predictable. This is a possibility even if the individual does not own any stocks.
There is a good chance that the performance of this investment will exceed that of fixed deposits over the course of the medium to long term.
Nothing Is Locked In
Unlike investing via insurance plans, which include numerous layers of costs and require money to be locked in, our investment strategy does not have a lock-in period and does not impose any early surrender penalties.
This gives our clients more freedom. This indicates that investors are free to sell their assets at any time without incurring any additional financial costs in order to fulfill their other financial commitments.
ETFs
The importance of exchange-traded funds (also known as ETFs) in a diversified investment portfolio is becoming more widely acknowledged.
Investors are able to increase the number of investment opportunities available to them and have access to a wider variety of products offered by ETFs by taking into consideration the many types of ETFs, which include stock, bond, commodities, inverse, cash-based, and synthetic ETFs.
Why Invest In ETFs With iFast Financial?
Exchange Traded Funds, often known as ETFs, are open-ended investment vehicles that are publicly listed and traded on a stock market. ETFs are a kind of exchange-traded fund.
Because it includes the pooling of money and subsequent investment in line with the investment goal of the ETF, the idea of an exchange-traded fund, also known as an exchange-traded fund (ETF), is comparable to that of a unit trust or mutual fund.
The passive management strategy and much lower management fees that this investment vehicle use are what set it apart from unit trusts and serve as the defining characteristics of the investment vehicle.
In recent years, exchange-traded funds, often known as ETFs, have acquired a substantial amount of momentum as a result of their expanding popularity.
Because they so closely replicate the performance of bond or stock indexes, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have a high degree of diversity. In most cases, the components of these indexes consist of a group of different stocks.
The information that they provide provides an all-encompassing picture of the market that they keep an eye on. Eg: S&P 500 The purpose of the UCITS, which stands for “Undertakings for the Collective Investment in Transferable Securities,” is to simulate the performance of the S&P 500 index.
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They Are Made Up Of Diversified Portfolio
This index is made up of a diversified portfolio that contains 500 of the most important companies on the market in the United States. In the event that the value of a select few stocks went down, the total performance would not be severely influenced at all.
They Provide Access To Diverse Markets, Sectors, And Classes
Exchange-traded funds, more often known as ETFs, make investing in a variety of markets easier.
To provide an example, in order for a person to achieve admission into the stock market of Thailand, it is required for that person to commence the process of creating a brokerage account and acquire fluency in the local language in order to determine which stocks are suited for investment.
Exchange-traded funds, often known as ETFs, have the capacity to carefully monitor the performance of the Thai exchange, giving investors with instant access to the whole Thai market.
They Are Low In Cost
When compared with mutual funds or unit trusts, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) often have lower fees and expense ratios than other types of investment vehicles, such as unit trusts and mutual funds.
They Maintain A Careful Eye On The Index
Exchange-traded funds, sometimes known as ETFs, are investments that attempt to mimic the performance of a certain index as precisely as possible.
As a consequence of this, given that the ETFs have a cost ratio of 0.2%, they will demonstrate a similar rise of 9.8% in the event that the index suffers a 10% increase.
Corporate Pensions
iFAST Pensions is a firm that specializes in offering tax-effective employee benefit solutions to global organizations as well as people who are already residing in other countries.
The business provides its employees with access to a variety of defined contribution group retirement savings plans.
These plans include Section 5, Supplementary Retirement Scheme (SRS), offshore pension plans, and foreign pension plans such as Qualifying Recognized Overseas Pension Schemes (QROPS).
In Singapore, where they are one of the most well-known providers of services related to corporate pensions, our customer consists of illustrious businesses such as Barclays, BlackRock, and INSEAD.
They are well-equipped to assist the expansion of firms that are active in the corporate sector thanks to the considerable expertise and specific knowledge that they possess.
iFAST Global Prestige (iGP)?
There has been a considerable increase in the number of persons with very high net worth (HNWIs) in Asia as a direct result of Asia’s growing significance in the global economy.
The conventional style of private banking that is given by high street banks has seen a fall in popularity as a result of the growing preference among customers for a wealth management strategy that is more relationship-oriented and individualized as opposed to one that is exclusively focused on providing transactional services.
High-Net-Worth Individuals (HNWIs) have a wide variety of financial needs, which typically include sophisticated intricacies and need for exhaustive study and analysis.
Significant expansion has been seen in the market’s need for sophisticated financial products and private banking services that provide information on their costs in a manner that is both open and affordable.
In addition, they are of the opinion that financial advisors should have access to an all-encompassing platform that provides a diverse selection of services to choose from.?
Because of this access, they are able to provide the greatest possible level of service to their customers.
The purpose of building a wealth management platform that successfully caters to the needs of financial advisors and high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) in the area was the driving force behind the decision to create the iFAST Global Prestige (iGP).
This decision was prompted by the objective of creating a wealth management platform. High Net Worth Individuals (HNWIs) are the focus of iGP, a wealth management platform in Singapore that was the first of its kind and was developed by iGP.
At iGP, they place a high premium on the never-ending search for excellent goods, which is directed by highly experienced managers who have a track record of success.
In addition, they provide a wide variety of asset classes, which makes it possible for financial advisers to capitalize on beneficial situations and provide significant value to the customers they serve.
Because of this, the platform makes it a point to look for goods in a broad variety of jurisdictions throughout the globe. This is done with the goal of catering to the many requirements of high-net-worth people (HNWIs).
Investment Parking Facilities
Clients have a variety of choices at their disposal via iFAST for temporarily allocating their assets while investment decisions are being made.
In addition, customers have the choice to invest their money in either the Cash Fund or one of the Money Market Funds that are offered via the site.
Money Market Funds
Money market funds have various advantages:
White Label Service
They provide an all-encompassing white label solution that is connected very smoothly with both their operations and their website.
The login page, which will be personalized to match the branding of the firm and will be seamlessly integrated into the platform, will be accessible to both the clients and the advisors of the organization.
iFast Financial Adviser Support
iFast Financial demonstrates a strong commitment to meeting the needs and demands of its clientele, thereby enabling these clients to effectively address the needs and demands of their own customer base.
Consolidated Business Operations and Administrative Structures
The individuals in question assume responsibility for the execution of back-end tasks, thereby allowing individuals to focus on the growth and development of their enterprises.
Only one transaction form, one check payment, and one location are necessary. The customer will receive a single consolidated statement.
The implications of this for individuals at a personal level are as follows:
Users have the ability to seamlessly exchange between any of the funds provided on their platform without incurring any additional charges.
This enables them to take advantage of potential growth opportunities as they arise. Alternatively, in the event of unfavorable market conditions, it may be prudent to reallocate investments to funds that offer greater stability.
Tools
The technology they offer confers a competitive edge to users in relation to their rivals.
Mobile App
When individuals are engaged in activities outside of their usual work environment, the utilization of a mobile application equips them with a range of resources and data that enables them to impress their clientele or remain well-informed about the latest developments in the financial markets and investment funds.
Reporting For Business And Management
The sales statistics of the customers are completely transparent to the customers, so customers are aware of precisely how much business they have generated and how much more business they need to generate.
Reporting tools for monitoring the performance of sales include, but not limited to, net sales, AUA, and commissions.
Customer Support
Customers and their customers may depend on a specialized staff made up of customer service representatives and business development managers to suit their demands.
Because this organization offers the most comprehensive assistance available, customers can concentrate on cultivating long-lasting client relationships and delivering high-caliber services and recommendations to their existing customers.
iFast Financial Research Services
Regular updates are sent by the Research Team to ensure that people are able to keep abreast of the most current developments that have occurred in global markets.
Research Desk
The Business Times, Channel NewsAsia, and Lianhe Zaobao are just a some of the important local media sources that routinely seek out the market assessments that are offered by the Research Team.
The members of the team that are based in Hong Kong are often featured on a variety of local media outlets inside Hong Kong, including iMoney, Ming Pao, and ETNET, amongst others.
Because the organization has experts located in Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and India, they are able to provide fast analysis of developments in economic conditions and financial markets.
The viewpoints discussed above are recorded in regular market reports and updates, which may be found on the official website of the organization.
In addition, the Research Team presents their thoughts on the market at the Monthly Morning Meeting, which takes place on the first Tuesday of every month.
The Research Team does not only perform analyses of the financial market but also provides analyses and suggestions concerning unit trusts.
The firm requires newly founded funds and fund managers to go through a thorough due diligence procedure before they can be listed on the platform. This process is carried out by the company.
The funds that are housed on the platform are regularly evaluated for the purpose of determining whether or not they are qualified to be included on the list of Recommended Funds.?
The Essential Series Portfolio serves as a representation of the viewpoints on financial markets and fund selection, and it is subject to monthly changes by the Research Team.
Chart Centre And Fund Selector
It is essential for a wealth consultant that they have access to a varied assortment of funds to choose from.
However, it is essential to keep in mind that having access to a wide variety of funds could not be advantageous in the event that there are insufficient resources available to assist in the process of picking the proper funds.
The group provides a wide range of information and tools for members to use in order to alleviate the problem that is reportedly caused by an abundance of finances.
users will not only get assistance with their research, but they will also have access to a user-friendly online fund picker tool. This tool will aid users in narrowing down a curated list of funds for the purpose of analysis and comparison.
The provision of exhaustive information, such as fund returns, the 3-year Risk Return Ratio, the Sharpe Ratio, fund factsheets, and product highlight sheets, is made possible via the use of filtering tools, which allow for more effective access to certain funds.
The Fund Selector tool has recently been upgraded to give users with new fund information, including information about the fund’s size and the management fee. In addition to that, it now shows information pertaining to dividends, such as the payment and the regularity of dividends.
Individuals have the ability, thanks to the Fund Selector, to visually compare several funds that they have chosen, which they may subsequently provide to their customers.
Recommended Fund List
The compilation of Recommended Funds is comprised of funds that have been judged outstanding within their respective peer groups, after a comprehensive review, analysis, and endorsement by the Research Team. These funds are included in the Recommended Funds collection.
For the benefit of people, in-depth explanations relevant to the principles upon which the suggestions are based are also provided.
The list of Suggested Investments is updated on an as-needed basis and is subject to publication on a yearly basis.
Essential Series Portfolios
The iFAST Research Team is in charge of developing and managing a set of model portfolios known as the Essential Portfolios. These model portfolios were created in the past.
There are five unique models for asset allocation techniques that are available to cater to the various risk profiles of customers. These models range from Conservative to Aggressive and cover the spectrum in between.
By activating a pre-programmed email notification system, individuals are given the opportunity to track the performance of any portfolio of their choosing. The selected portfolio will automatically get email updates from this system if any changes are made to it.
Each month, these portfolios are subjected to rebalancing in order to ensure optimal performance.
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