Dear readers, MoneyOwl announced yesterday that it will be closing down by 31 Dec 2023. The announcement came to me as a shock since MoneyOwl is a prominent entity on the financial scene, offering individuals with a holistic suite of financial solutions for investment, insurance and will-writing.
Also to add, MoneyOwl has a solid brand name under its back as the company is a joint venture between NTUC Enterprise and Providence which was launched in 2018 – Providend has since divested from MoneyOwl in 2022.
What is noteworthy is that MoneyOwl is one of only two robo-advisors able to offer investment services for the CPF Investment Scheme. Robo-advisors are none other than the names of digital wealth platforms.
While robo-advisors may be well loved by Singaporeans these days especially the more IT-savvy young Singaporeans for their convenience of banking and managing one’s monies, I am not too enarmored of robo-advisors. The reason is due to the fact that monies invested in a robo-advisor platform is not insured by the Singapore Deposit Insurance Corporation (SDIC). SDIC deposit insurance only covers provides protection for deposits in SGD for standard savings, current, or fixed deposit accounts.
It is good to read that MoneyOwl’s investment and insurance businesses will be transferred to iFast Financial and I noted that there seems to be efforts to minimise impact to existing customers’ products and services purchased.
However, I would think that MoneyOwl’s closure should be a reminder to all individuals to manage risks appropriately when it comes to investing or putting their monies in robo-advisors since as previously mentioned, SDIC’s deposit insurance does not cover monies invested in robo-advisor platforms.