by The Kiam Siap Life, Mr Kiam Siap, 4 April 2022. This article is written in collaboration with uSMART Singapore. All views expressed in the article are the independent opinions of The Kiam Siap Life. The information in this article are meant purely for informational purposes and should not be construed as financial advice. This article has not been reviewed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore. We’re all about being kiam siap and naturally, when a new product comes along that ticks all boxes of staying low-cost while not compromising on quality, we’d be drawn to it and hopefully this article gives Singaporeans more choices. With low cost online brokerage being to go-to for many retail investors these days, it is not surprising that there will be an influx of new players to join the market in Singapore. Here’s my review of the 2 weeks early access hands-on experience for Singapore’s newest online brokerage, uSMART. Background of uSMART uSMART was founded in December 2018 and their license from Hong Kong’s SFC soon followed. uSMART Hong Kong app was successfully launched in July 2019 and soon won awards such as “Most Innovative Data Provider of the Year” from HKEx and the “Intelligent Investment Platform Award of Excellent” from Now Business News Channel 2019. uSMART grew rapidly and completed their series B funding of USD 100m in Feb 2021, counting prominent HK conglomerate Chow Tai Fook Group as one of their strategic investors. Looking to bring uSMART’s solutions to investors worldwide, Singapore became the next stop. uSMART Singapore received Capital Market License (CMS) from MAS in December 2021 and within 4 months, they have developed an investment app from scratch to cater to the needs of investors in this region. Similar to other online brokerages, uSMART SG app offers global markets like US, SG and HK and products like stocks, ETFs, and US options. My Experience with uSMART For starters, uSMART is available on both iPhone’s App store and Android’s Google Play. [image]

by DOLLAR AND SENSE, Dinesh Dayani, 25 May 2022. [image]

by The Edge, Felicia Tan, 29 April 2022. The app has already been licensed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). uSMART Securities, an investment app that seeks to help new investors get into the markets, has launched in Singapore. The app, which secured a Series B funding of US$100 million ($138.6 million) in February 2021, counts Hong Kong-listed jeweller Chow Tai Fook among its strategic investors. The app has already been licensed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). It sets itself apart by offering “simple and intuitive” language for would-be investors looking to enter the market. For example, technical terms such as “conditional orders” are labelled “buy low” or “sell high” on the app instead. The app also offers easy-to-understand explanations for first-time investors to make smart investment decisions. In addition, users will be able to interact with trading experts by following their feeds on the app, where they’ll find news and views. uSMART is said to be the first broker that allows users to set up eGIRO access to their trading account with nine different banks. The banks include the three Singapore banks, DBS, OCBC and UOB. They also include Maybank, Standard Chartered, ICBC, HSBC, Bank of China and Citibank. Once set up, users will be able to deposit their funds instantly, with the funds being available 24/7 to trade. Torry Hong, founder and CEO of uSMART, says “uSMART is not only determined to provide a good trading platform with excellent user experience, but also to create value for users by providing remarkable education services and intelligent investment services continuously.”

On May 18, 2022, local time, a poster with the theme "Asian Leaders of 2022" landed at Times Square, New York, USA, lighting up the Nasdaq exterior large screen, known as "the world's first screen". Some well-known business leaders have been invited to board this world-famous wealth icon in recent years, from which they will express the voice of Asian enterprises to the rest of the world. Mr. Hung, CEO of uSMART Group, stood on the massive Nasdaq screen as a representative of exceptional Asian entrepreneurs to showcase to the world the demeanour of a new generation of social-learning intelligent securities companies. Mr. Torry Hung has accumulated and generated over ten years of professional experience in the field of financial technology. Notably, playing a big part of developing the backbone of Alipay's massive transaction system and Tencent's product and globalisation projects. [image]