The wealth management firm will partner with an unnamed structured investment and fintech provider, as well as an investment research firm, to develop “personalised” and “actively-managed investment portfolios” for clients.
The digital advisory platform “empowers clients to utilise the latest technology to manage their investments in their own time and without the high fees of traditional operators”, according to the firm’s statement.
Bambu, a Singapore-based B2B robo advisor startup which secured $400,000 of seed funding last month, is the platform developer. Pershing, a unit under BNY Mellon, will act as the custodian.
The robo-advisory service targets high net worth individuals with more than S$2m ($1.47m) of net personal assets, as well as US expatriates in the Lion City, as the latter are “finding it increasingly difficult to access investment and savings products while living overseas”, said Crossbridge Capital partner and head of digital strategy and distribution Charlie O’Flaherty, in the statement.
“Singapore is very well placed to act as a hub for future expansion of the digital platform into other markets,” a spokesman said. The firm sees Singapore as a key market with “strong growth potential for an online investment platform here alongside traditional wealth advice”, the spokesman added.
Crossbridge has about $3bn of assets under advisory, with offices in London, Singapore, Monaco and Malta.
According to a 2015 report by consultant Capgemini, over three-quarters of HNWIs in Asia-Pacific ex-Japan said they would consider having part of their wealth managed by an automated advisory service. That compares to 41.5% for the rest of the world.
In a separate survey on HNWIs by Legg Mason, about 59% of millennials aged under 40 and 43% of those above 40 years old in Asia said they are comfortable using robo-advisors. The global average is 63% and 39% respectively.
