NTUC Enterprise Co-operative-backed MoneyOwl announced it is winding down its financial advisory business and that all commercial activities will cease by 31 December 2023.
The decision to wind down follows a joint review by the company and NTUC Enterprise Co-operative Limited. 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.
As part of the winding down process, MoneyOwl will transfer its investment and insurance businesses to iFAST Financial Pte (“iFAST”), which will reach out to MoneyOwl clients from September 2023.
Investment clients may transact on MoneyOwl’s portal until 24 October 2023, and can do so on iFAST’s portal from 25 October 2023. The company will cease to accept new insurance applications after 8 September 2023. Clients may continue to access MoneyOwl’s financial planning service and will writing service online until 15 December 2023, after which all MoneyOwl online services and account logins will be disabled.
As part of the business transfer to iFAST, all MoneyOwl clients can continue to enjoy digital access to their portfolios via the iFAST platform at the same level of fees, as well as access to iFAST’s team of more than 60 advisers for both investments and insurance.
‘Steward resources wisely’
Chuin Ting Weber, MoneyOwl chief executive and chief investment officer, said: “MoneyOwl was established in 2018 to address a gap in the mass market for comprehensive financial advice and focused on providing simple, unbiased fit-for-purpose financial planning solutions. Since then, we have continually invested resources in expanding our outreach, including leveraging our union network, to ensure that we can support as many people as possible in their financial planning journey.
“We consistently received positive feedback, and several of our pioneering innovations have also received industry accolades. However, we realised that there was not enough of a market in the gap.
“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 we earned revenue. 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.
“Despite these challenges, we remained committed to our social mission and continued to focus on delivering the best for our customers, as well as investing in our technological assets to further the growth of the industry. However, at the end of the day, we are part of a social enterprise group, and it remains vital that we continue to steward resources wisely to better serve the broader interest of the Singapore community.”
