Singapore's OCBC Bank is piloting a roboadvisory service within wealth management that will allow investors to build and rebalance portfolios using automated, algorithm-based portfolio management advice without having to deal with relationship managers.

The pilot service is provided in partnership with Weinvest, a Singapore-based fintech company, and will first involve only accredited investors, but will later be opened up to the non-accredited.

The OCBC roboadvisor will offer exchange traded funds (ETFs) and equities only according to the risk profile and investment goals of 'select participants', which are determined via a questionnaire. Investors will be able to access two categories of investment portfolios, starting from S$3,000 including five passive portfolios made up of ETFs and equities listed on the Dow Jones and Nasdaq, and a thematic basket of stocks listed on the two indices, such as shares of technology companies or fast-moving-consumer-goods companies.

The platform will automatically monitor portfolios and alert investors via SMS or email about changes in market conditions and performance with proposals to rebalance portfolios if they diverge from the investment goals.

Financial services have to be relevant and tailored to the markets and customer segments they serve, according to Aditya Gupta (pictured), head of e-business Singapore at OCBC. "OCBC Bank's roboadvisory pilot helps both new-to-investing customers and experienced investors with a guided investment journey and simplified decision making," said Gupta. "Our philosophy is to democratise wealth management and make it simple and accessible to investors. We believe wealth management should be accessible and understandable for all our customers."

Since the launch earlier this month, the bank has had many requests from customers asking to be part of the pilot, according to Gupta. "Upon completion of the pilot, we will explore options for commercial launch of the service," said Gupta.

Meanwhile, DBS has upgraded its digital wealth platform 'DBS iWealth' to allow clients to conduct their banking transactions, manage their wealth and also trade on a single platform.

The platform is now available on a single mobile app that allows equity trading in seven markets, including Australia, Japan and the UK, in addition to Singapore, Hong Kong, the US and Canada, as well as investment access to over 400 funds, alongside a number of interface improvements and access to research and expert insight.

More than 70% of DBS' wealth clients are already online and mobile banking users with the bank and are actively managing their wealth on these digital channels. In 2016, around 25% of wealth clients were acquired online via "DBS iWealth", according to the bank.

While DBS is employing an open architecture approach with its digital platforms, structured products are not yet part of the solution, as they could be quite complicated and clients need be fully aware of the products they are buying into by themselves, according to a DBS spokesperson.

For now, iWealth only includes operations that can be safely conducted via the app - portfolio analysis, setting alerts, accessing research, trading stocks and funds, and right now the bank does not expect structured products to be added to the platform soon, according to the spokesperson.

DBS and its subsidiaries have distributed 3,481 structured products globally, according to the SRP database, including 288 active products. OCBC and its subsidiaries have distributed 511 products, including 18 live products.

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