Grab Financial Group (GFG), the financial services arm of Grab Holdings, has announced that it will launch a wealth management solution for users in Singapore.
“AutoInvest” will be the firm’s first micro-investment solution, which enables users to invest as they spend with their everyday Grab transactions.
Users can choose how much they want to invest per Grab transaction, from as low as S$1 (£0.56, $0.73, €0.62), with returns estimated to be 1.8% per annum.
Grab, which was first founded in Malaysia in 2012 and later moved its headquarters to Singapore, started as a ride-hailing service, like Uber in the US.
Later, it expanded its services to include food delivery and digital payments.
Launch
AutoInvest will make use of fixed income funds offered by Fullerton Fund Management and UOB Asset Management. The firm expects to roll-out the service in early September.
Our sister publication Fund Selector Asia sought more information from Grab whether it will roll out the offering in other Southeast Asian markets and if it plans to launch other wealth management solutions, such as robo-advisory services, but the firm was not able to reply in time for publication.
Grab is already operating in a number of different Southeast Asian markets, which include Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia and Myanmar, according to the firm’s website.
Recent activity
The move follows after Grab Holdings acquired B2B robo-advisory firm Bento in February, which has been renamed as Grabinvest.
At the time, Grabinvest noted that it already acquired a retail fund management company license with the Monetary Authority of Singapore, which means that it can launch its products to retail investors in the Lion City.
GFG is also involved in other financial services. For example, it launched its consumer insurance business last year, with at least 13 million insurance policies issued since April 2019, according to the statement. GFG is now one of the largest digital insurance distributors in Southeast Asia for its insurance partner, Chubb.
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