MoneyOwl announced today that it is winding down its financial advisory business and that all commercial activities will cease by Dec 31. As part of the winding down process, MoneyOwl will transfer its investment and insurance businesses to iFast Financial.
The decision to wind down follows a joint review by the company and its shareholder, NTUC Enterprise Co-operative. The review concluded that the business would not be commercially viable, and a decision was made to redeploy resources to other areas where NTUC Enterprise can deliver greater social impact.
iFast Financial will reach out to MoneyOwl clients from September 2023. Investment clients may transact on MoneyOwl’s portal until Oct 24, and can do so on iFast’s portal from Oct 25. MoneyOwl will cease to accept new insurance applications after Sept 8.
Clients may continue to access MoneyOwl’s Comprehensive Financial Planning service and will be writing service online until Dec 15, after which all MoneyOwl online services and account logins will be disabled.
iFast Financial is the existing custodian of MoneyOwl clients’ investment accounts.
Chuin Ting Weber, MoneyOwl's founding CEO and CIO, says that while many recognised the importance of financial planning, most did not take further action and far fewer were inclined to pay planning fees or purchase investment or insurance products through which MoneyOwl earned revenue.
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"In addition, many of our fit-for-purpose solutions were designed with low fees to benefit mass market clients. This, coupled with the high costs associated with client acquisition, technology development, and a fully salaried workforce made it challenging to achieve commercial viability," she adds.
Lim Chung Chun, iFast's chairman and CEO says that his team is committed to provide the best support to MoneyOwl’s clients and ensure a seamless transition to iGM.
"iFast will be able to provide the convenience of a digital trading platform, coupled with advice across various product types from licenced wealth advisers and we believe this will support the clients’ wealth management and protection needs,” he adds.
MoneyOwl is an NTUC social enterprise whose purpose is to enable people to make wise financial decisions.
