Welcome to Nasdaq trade talks.
I'm your host, Jill Malandrino,
global markets reporter at Nasdaq.
Joining us for this segment.
We have Wang Chi, chief investment officer
of UOB Kay Hian.
He joins us to discuss trends in evolving needs
of retail investors in the APAC region.
Gee, it's great to have you with us.
Welcome to Trade Talks.
Thank you. Welcome. Thank you for having us.
You got it. And give us some background on UOB Kay Hian.
Tell us more about it.
Uh, UOB Kay Hian is
a leading Asian financial services firm based
in Singapore and listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange.
Um, as the name implies, uh,
it is a bank backed,
uh brokerage firm backed by the UOB bank.
Um, and our businesses, uh, cover, um,
a range of services from securities trading, uh,
corporate finance, structured products,
uh, institutional, uh, sales and research.
And last but not the least is the business
I work for called private wealth management.
Uh, one of the fastest growing units within our firm.
Um, as an Asian firm,
our mission has always been to,
uh, connect Asia with the rest of the world.
Uh, meaning either raising capital for
Asian firms globally or, uh, investing, uh,
clients money globally for Asian based clients and, uh,
within private wealth management,
which is the business I report to, uh,
our mission is really to provide,
uh, value added, curated insights, uh,
for our high net worth individuals and
family office clients for
their wealth protection and growth,
which is a very interesting topic in
this today's uncertain macro environment.
We can certainly talk more about that if you like.
Yes, and we certainly will.
Before we get to that,
how has the business grown over the years,
alongside with investors changing
needs in the Southeast Asia and Asian regions?
Oh, fortunately, our business has grown
tremendously in the last few years.
And as I mentioned,
we are a listed company.
So a lot of these information
is available publicly about our,
uh, revenue and growth, etc..
I just want to focus a little bit on
the private wealth management business,
because you mentioned about the retail investors today.
Um, we benefited tremendously,
uh, from several trends in the past.
Um, number one is, um,
I know it may sound a little bit corny,
but something called the Asian century,
meaning that despite the ups and downs, um,
Asia is rapidly rising in its significance in terms of,
uh, trade, economy, technology and finance.
Um, and when you when you talk about Asia,
people typically associate that with India and China.
But from our perspective, it's beyond that.
So these days we are seeing
very interesting opportunities in Malaysia, in Singapore,
in Vietnam, in Thailand,
all because of the geopolitics,
the macro environment and
the technology innovation that's
happening around the world.
So we are quite bullish on Asia,
and we are committed to
this part of the world as our business base.
And number two is something related
to the above is that we are
seeing tremendous wealth creation
in this part of the world,
as you would imagine.
Um, and back in the old days,
the Asian wealth typically come from, um,
real estate, uh, agriculture,
metals and mining and low end manufacturing.
And that's what you typically associate Asia with.
But, you know, the new regime shows that these,
um, things are changing.
So increasingly we are seeing growth in, um,
advanced manufacturing technology,
consumer brands and even cultural related businesses.
Um, so that's an interesting data point.
We're seeing growth among companies.
We're also seeing the wealth growth
out of those areas in Asia.
Uh, again, make us very bullish about the Asian century.
And third is is on the local financial services market.
And you guys also an expert on this.
You can tell me more about it,
which is that the local Asian financial markets are also,
uh, growing, um, bigger,
deeper and more resilient.
Uh, we've been through a lot of crises in the past,
the infamous Asian crisis in 1997 or 1998.
But we have, um,
grown out of that.
And, um, and if you look at the past ten years,
whether it's the Covid or other, uh, small,
uh, crisis around the world,
Asia turned out to be quite resilient.
And, uh, part of that reason,
which is a hot topic today,
is that we are seeing
a trend called de-dollarization, um,
which has benefited Asia as well, making Asian markets,
um, more interesting for investment standpoint.
So all these three things combined make us,
um, uh, positive and
optimistic about about Asia over the long term.
And with such a dynamic marketplace,
what are some of the challenges that you have faced?
Great question. Um, we face challenges every day.
So so I think, you know,
with these opportunities always
come with tremendous challenges.
Um, um, just to be brief,
uh, I know that we don't have too much time today,
but the investment in equation today
globally has become more dynamic and more complex by day.
Uh, given the geopolitics,
uh, the technology innovations.
And also don't forget demographics.
Um, so, for example, with AI, uh,
one of the challenge that we face is how we can, um,
uh, better provide
our high touch brokerage services to our clients.
And whether that service is still relevant,
because you can see that
AI is increasingly replacing human.
Um, and then the second issue is the with
the intricacy and uncertainty
surrounding geopolitics, which is, you know,
this has just happened the last few weeks, um, that, uh,
how we can provide clients
with timely and value added insights in
such a complex environment
and how we can better help
them navigate this environment.
And when I talk about geopolitics,
we all know essentially comes down
to the battle of the giants,
the US-China relations, um,
and Asia, I would say is at the forefront of that.
Some countries benefited, but some countries also face
challenges and some countries face
both opportunities and challenges at the same time.
So it's quite complex.
It's not something we can figure out right away.
But like I said, we are dedicated to help our clients
to navigate this extremely difficult environment.
Um, and third is that, you know,
with emergency of these new asset classes
like crypto and stablecoins,
how can we help our clients to, first of all,
to understand this trend, um,
and then capture these opportunities while
properly managing the volatility and the risk?
And this is maybe where Nasdaq coming.
I understand Nasdaq may have some solutions for
us there in terms of like
technology platforms to help
investors better manage risk
and better understand the markets.
Um, certainly it's relevant for today's discussion.
Yeah, It certainly is. Before we get into that,
I want to talk about the retail investor for a moment.
And as one of Asia's largest brokerage firms,
what are some of the recent trends among
retail investors that you've noticed that
could potentially have an impact on the future?
Well, another great question.
Yes, it too much to talk about here first of all.
But it's difficult to generalize, I would say.
But from my perspective,
one of the big change I'm
seeing is really the rapid growth
in the so-called online trading and digital platforms.
Um, I came from
a very strong institutional background from Wall Street.
So when I joined the business about 28 years ago,
the access to financial information is quite limited.
The access to trading was quite limited,
and it was not
an easy thing to do for people
just to look up information,
Do analysis and trade stocks.
But today, as we all know, um,
a number of our competitors
have pioneered online trading,
online information, online research and
all these things that made it really easy for,
um, mom and pops to adopt, uh, trading.
Um, anyway, um, so so that's a big change.
Um, and then on the other hand,
we also have a,
uh, a younger generation.
I won't say exactly young generation,
but I would say people about my age or younger,
a relatively young generation of
people where they're digital,
digital natives, they're grown up with internet.
They grew up with mobile phones and mobile technologies,
and they just embrace this online trading really easily.
So that's, um, a big change.
And that presents both opportunities
and challenges for us.
Um, I think overall it's a great thing
that the industry is offering, uh,
people, uh, low touch and high efficiency,
uh, online trading services.
But I think there's still a catch, uh,
because investing involving risks, um,
especially if, um, like I say,
in today's dynamic environment
where the risks are so hard to predict.
So I don't think these low touch,
pure online, low cost do as you wish.
Services are necessarily good.
Um, certainly have merits.
As I mentioned, it's
a positive change overall if you know what you're doing.
Uh, so from our perspective.
As we see this trend,
we identify ourselves as
some firm that continue to offer, um,
high touch services to certain clients,
along with online trading services,
along with the convenience of the, the,
the web and all these new technologies.
So, um, I think there's
a there's certainly merit to that.
Um, you can think of us the business as, as a beach.
There's a section of the beach where everyone can just
go without lifeguards and
and people love to go go there because it's free
and it's easy to access.
But we continue to maintain
this section of the beach where
we carefully safeguard our clients assets.
Um, and I think again, in, in, in,
in the new paradigm we're living today
when risks are so complex and unpredictable,
there's a value for our services where we
can help retail and high net worth investors,
uh, with, um, fiduciary services,
not just the convenience of online trading.
Yeah, I would agree with you.
Same timeline as you starting off in
institutional equity trading on Wall Street.
And it's fascinating to me,
you know, starting in the mid to late 90s and, you know,
still trading in paper and fractions,
just what's available for,
you know, retail investors these days.
Um, but I do agree with you.
The safeguards are certainly
something that need to be considered.
So when we think about future outlook,
what are some of the key focuses that you will be
Kehan is looking into 2026 and years to come.
So one of our slogan is that at UOB Kay here,
we want to be more than just your broker.
Um, our job is to protect and grow your wealth over
time in today's complex and fast changing environment.
So that that's that definitely
will be a key focus, as I mentioned.
Um, so how do we do that?
Uh, one thing is that we must
raise the quality of our research.
Uh, our advice and
also our portfolio management services.
That's the business I'm in charge of
as CIO at UOB Kay here.
And then how do we define quality?
Um, I think it needs the research or the advice.
Need to be clear,
need to be simple.
I think today the market is already
filled with a lot of noise.
Um, there's a lot of social media
even talk about, uh, markets.
So we certainly don't want to
make things more complicated.
Um, so the clarity is important,
the simplicity is important,
and it needs to be grounded in solid research.
And we're quite serious about research, in fact.
And the last two things is about
the timeliness and also about actionable.
So all these ideas
needs to be actionable at the end of the day.
People come to us to execute trades.
People here come to us to make money.
So I think all these things need eventually
need to be translated into some kind of actionable ideas.
So that's, you know,
our business in a nutshell.
That's our focus in a nutshell.
And then interestingly, as I mentioned, um, you know,
in addition to the traditional financial services
we provide to clients,
whatever insight we provide, uh,
I think some of our clients also
apply to their businesses,
to their family life,
or to other aspects of their personal lives.
Uh, I'll give you one example.
We have been written a lot about AI.
I think this implications of AI go well beyond investing.
So a lot of the people actually came to
us not just for investment by AI,
but also maybe on
business advice and maybe on career advice and
maybe on the career advice other of
their children when they're still studying in college.
I think there's some huge ramifications on that, uh,
from that, uh, from the from the AI innovation.
Of course, it's not easy for us to
answer all of these questions,
but I you can see that people
trust us with that kind of advice.
And this is something that we could
potentially expand on, uh,
not just as a financial services provider,
but also as a company.
That series about investing, series about,
um, insights that can help our clients.
And finally, chief, tell us about your collaboration with
Nasdaq and why you have chosen to partner with us.
Thank you. Yes, it is absolutely
a pleasure to work with Nasdaq.
And consistent with what I said
about series about investing.
Uh, Nasdaq, first of all,
is a great brand.
Um, uh, there are
very few brands around the world
can entice any kind of emotional value.
I think Nasdaq has done it.
I'm not sure about you, but when I think about Nasdaq,
it's it reminds me of innovation.
It reminds me of growth.
I think it reminds me of some of the best,
most innovative,
fastest growing companies around the world.
I think to that end,
Nasdaq has done it.
So that's on the surface.
Below the surface, we really appreciate Nasdaq's,
uh, data support and data services.
So recently we subscribed to,
um, your data services through our Hong Kong office.
Um, and then we also evaluating looking into
your other technology driven services.
And correct me if I'm wrong,
whether this is by chance or by design.
Nasdaq very much replicate a lot of the innovative,
uh, things that some of your listed companies do,
like in Silicon Valley.
So we do appreciate your support and services.
Uh, for example, um,
in the indexing part of
your business is quite interesting to us.
As you know, uh,
passive has been growing,
uh, rapidly around the world.
And I think today is almost 40% of the US market.
And this is something that both us as
a firm and also our clients are intensely interested in.
So I very much look forward to
working more closely with you in the future.
And please keep in touch.
All right. Well, we appreciate the partnership and look
forward to innovating with you as well.
She appreciate your insights
and thanks for joining us on trade talks.
I'm Jill Malandrino global markets reporter at Nasdaq.
Thank you Joe.