Tag : ifast

The Singapore-based online distribution platform is expanding its offering amid growing demand for both alternative investments and exchange-traded funds in Asia.

Investment platforms cannot sell offshore products such as ETFs for direct retail purchase in Hong Kong or Singapore, and this is proving a major obstacle to robo-advisory business.

Provision of a small number of high-quality products is preferable to a mass of similar funds, speakers tell AsianInvestor's Fund Selector Forum. And they say managers need to prove their funds' worth.

The online funds firm is understood to have applied to list on the Singapore Exchange. It is also seeking to tap deregulation in Taiwan and retail appetite for online funds in China.

Navigator, Singapore's second largest fund distribution platform, will use Calastone's system to automate fund orders, and is pushing asset managers to go down this route.