Wealthtech serves Hong Kong’s underserved affluent investors

Digital platforms open private markets and lower entry barriers.

Hong Kong’s affluent are rapidly embracing digital wealth tools, but gaps remain for younger high net worth individuals who lack adequate options from traditional banks. According to Stephanie Leung, Chief Investment Officer of StashAway, wealthtech is stepping in to meet these needs through lower barriers, broader access, and technology-driven advice.

The problem, she added, is not the lack of wealth but the constraints imposed by conventional channels. “I think if you look at this segment, a lot of them have quite a bit of liquid wealth to invest. However, the options are actually quite limited, and oftentimes there are a lot of strings attached. For example, very high minimums, lockups, and a lot of times, if you go to a kind of traditional financial advisor, they would tend to kind of give you, perhaps a more biased advice, because given the kind of resource retros that they get from the fund managers.”

Leung said StashAway seeks to fill these gaps by offering independent advice and diversified portfolios at a lower cost. “What we provide is a very independent, kind of a holistic view of all the investment options out there, and we basically create the best ones. So for example, we have a range of offerings of different managed portfolios using ETFs, because they are very low cost. And also they are up for kind in the long run.”

Beyond ETFs, access to alternative assets is widening. “Over the course of the last few years, we've launched private credit, we've launched some adequate private equity, and also private infrastructure on our platforms for as low as $20,000. And that provides a very easy way for these young professionals or kind of affluent investors to diversify their portfolios through both public and private channels.”

Wealthtech is also making financial advice more accessible. “We combine the ease of a digital wealth advisor with the human touch, in terms of serving our clients, to provide 24/7 access to our affluent investors,” Leung said.

Technology remains central to this evolution. “With the use of technology, how we manage our portfolio is not by hiring a lot of human analysts, for example. But using our systematic framework which actually eliminates human bias. We also save a lot of cost in terms of using algorithms to manage our investments so that we actually provide a very low cost solution over time,” she added.