Singapore’s second largest bank Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC) has officially applied the latest artificial intelligence-led technology to its wealth-management operations, as the lender is trying to gain an edge over rivals in the banking sector.
Through a partnership with local startup WeInvest, OCBC will run the newly launched under its The Open Vault brand, the bank’s fintech and innovation unit.
For retail investors, the investment threshold for the new service has been set at S$3500, which is a low amount compared to the product limits of traditional banking wealth management.
OCBC will begin offering the automated across its 51 branches in Singapore. The product offers a cheaper option for this basic segment, and actually helps them trim charges for in-depth financial advice around topics such as tax and inheritance planning. Specifically, it costs 1.5 percent annually for assets under management of up to S$50,000, dropping to one percent for portfolios above the low water mark.
OCBC has already tested the waters in using in a bid to improve the bank’s financial results. The pilot program was launched last year at a few OCBC bank branches.
With banks in the Singapore still largely playing catch-up in embracing this digital technology, OCBC is claiming to be the first among the nation’s big lenders to unlock the potential of the robo-advisers, which are being adopted rapidly by the wealth management industry worldwide.
Commenting on the news, OCBC Bank’s head of e-business Singapore, Aditya Gupta, said: “With OCBC RoboInvest, we are empowering our customers to get started on their investment journeys and grow their wealth in a simple, smart and self-directed way. We are certain that our customers will find this new digital investment platform very attractive and that it will radically transform how customers engage with their investments.”
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