Creating a fully-automated investment experience with Endowus and UOB Kay Hian

Endowus is a Singapore-based financial technology company that empowers people to take control of their financial future through their provision of curated data-driven investment portfolios. Endowus works with UOB Kay Hian, one of Asia’s largest brokerage firms, as custodian for funds placed by Endowus’ users into their platform.

As part of this arrangement, funds placed into Endowus’ platform by investors are held in segregated accounts with UOB Kay Hian to ensure the safety of their cash and securities. Funds are then invested into a customised portfolio of assets that leverage UOB Kay Hian’s access to a broad range of securities. Altogether, this allows investors to place funds into institutional-quality financial products at a significantly lower cost- a partnership that has allowed them to build a distinguished position in Singapore’s highly competitive fintech scene. As such, the two parties are constantly collaborating on ways to enhance the overall investment experience to maintain their market-leading position.

Traditionally, using Singapore’s GIRO system, the direct debit mandate application process is a manually intensive process that takes three to four weeks, as users have to fill out and mail paper forms to their billing organisations. This could be eliminated to create a fully digital, seamless experience by leveraging the eGIRO infrastructure that was launched in Singapore by The Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS) in 2021.

In addition, with the surge in popularity of real-time payments in Singapore, Endowus observed a growing expectation for investors to have the option to top-up their accounts using Fast and Secure Transfers (FAST), Singapore’s 24/7 real-time payment clearing rail. To address this, Endowus and UOB Kay Hian worked to develop a fully automated top-up process that would utilise this payment infrastructure.

With this goal in mind, Endowus and UOB Kay Hian decided to partner with HSBC to support the real-time funding of investment accounts through HSBC’s real-time direct debit API solution. Firstly, by using eGIRO, investors can now register their real-time direct debit mandates through Endowus’ website or mobile app. The investor nominates a bank account for funds to be debited from. Upon doing so, the eGIRO mandate application is sent via API to the investor’s bank, where it is received and processed instantly. This has reduced the time taken to set up direct debits from weeks to mere minutes. All user data is encrypted, and processes are backed with 2FA (2-Factor Authentication), enhancing security.

Once the setup is complete, funds are debited automatically from the investors’ nominated bank accounts and credited to their investment account with UOB Kay Hian via FAST, significantly reducing the time taken for such settlements from the two days that was traditionally required. Altogether, this has helped to achieve the fully automated investment process that was envisioned.

Additionally, both Endowus and UOB Kay Hian can initiate collection status enquiries via API to receive real-time updates on the status of top-ups, allowing them to better advise investors on status, while achieving a more robust process for reconciliation.

“We believe that this project has shown how greater co-operation within the finance industry can help drive better outcomes for consumers. We are delighted to have worked with HSBC to help advance our shared vision of making investing easier and more accessible for all”

Edison Chong, Director, Regional Finance & Operations, UOB Kay Hian