Tiger Brokers Singapore has, on Aug 18, partnered Onfido, a global identity verification and authentication company, to provide Tiger Brokers’ customers with a smoother onboarding process.
This comes as the online brokerage says it has been seeing an increasing number of users being onboarded on its Tiger Trade platform since its inception in early 2020.
The onboarding process will be automated using Onfido’s artificial intelligence (AI)-powered document and biometric verification solution.
The partnership comes as the online brokerage welcomes more users to its platform.
Through Onfido, Tiger Brokers users can verify their log-ins by taking a photo of their passport or Singapore NRIC and a short selfie video.
Onfido will then check that the identity submitted is genuine and not fraudulent. It will also verify customers’ selfie with “liveness checks”.
“Tiger Brokers (Singapore) is all about providing a seamless user experience to our investors. We have constantly made sure we update our platform with usability features, ranging from easier access to financial news to deposit enhancements, and our partnership with Onfido will allow us to onboard new users within a few hours instead of the average/standard two to three business days,” says Tiger Brokers CEO, Eng Thiam Choon.
“We want to make investing as accessible and convenient as possible to our Singapore-based users, and this is a positive step in providing Singapore’s digitally and financially savvy investors access to some of the most exciting global markets in the world,” he adds.
“Singapore is known as the FinTech hub of Asia and we are proud to be supporting Tiger Brokers (Singapore) in their digitisation journey,” says Harvinder Singh, GM APAC of Onfido. “Onfido brings trust to digital interactions worldwide, and we’re excited to be partnering with a company that’s equally ambitious. We pride ourselves on delivering an experience with the best technology solution and we look forward to collaborating with Tiger Brokers (Singapore) as they innovate for the future of the financial industry.”
On investing in the current pandemic that is turning into an endemic, Tiger Brokers' Eng says investors should not "head straight on" due to the current volatility.
"We always encourage investors to stay focused on their investment goals and diversify to avoid unsystematic risks. This can be done by setting a ratio to their investment portfolio, for example, 30% in equities, 40% in ETFs and 30% in cash - whichever suits their level of comfortability," he says.
Good investment habits such as doing the necessary research, monitoring the industry or market, as well as being aware of the ongoing economic and political climate is key, Eng adds.
In fact, according to Eng, those who are new to online trading should start with paper trading to better understand the dynamics while gaining some experience.
Meanwhile, having a balanced and diversified portfolio is important. Investors should consider various asset classes such as equities, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), futures, stock options, warrants, as well as others, to ensure that they are "well-spread", says Eng. "At the same time, investors should constantly review their portfolios to make sure that their investment goals are met."
"Across the globe, there are visible signs of investors favouring pharmaceuticals and technology stocks as the popular go-to stocks. eputable blue-chip companies such as banks and property are also within the investors’ perimeter to attain stable returns, as growth in these sectors slowly recover from the effects of the pandemic," he adds.
Photo: Tiger Brokers
