Robo-adviser StashAway expands to UAE

ROBO-ADVISER StashAway has expanded to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to tap the growing mass affluent segment in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

Launched in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), the digital wealth platform is now available to retail and accredited investors in the region. In a statement on Monday, StashAway said it is the first robo-adviser to receive an asset management licence from Dubai authorities with retail endorsement.

The Singapore-based fintech has seen its assets under management grow more than 4.3 times in the last 12 months, and plans to build on this momentum with continuous product development.

Ramzi Khleif, StashAway MENA general manager, said: "The UAE has a large mass affluent segment that has had to rely on traditional investment products that are often expensive and generic. We identified this gap in the market for sophisticated, accessible, global investment options and we are excited to launch our services here in UAE and the wider MENA region."

The firm's co-founder and chief executive officer, Michele Ferrario, added: "When we realised that the gap in wealth management options also exists in MENA, it was an obvious decision to expand our services, starting with earning our licence in the DIFC."

The UAE is StashAway's third market after Singapore and Malaysia. The firm has so far raised US$36.4 million in four funding rounds.

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Based on their personal risk preferences, investors can select from a range of growth- oriented, globally-diversified investment portfolios. Since its launch in July 2017, the firm said all growth-oriented portfolios have outperformed their respective same-risk benchmarks with annualised US-dollar returns of 11.1 per cent on the highest-risk portfolio, and 4.3 per cent for its lowest-risk portfolio.

It also has a cash management product, StashAway Simple, that has a projected rate of 1.2 per cent in dirhams and US dollar on any amount of cash with no lock-up.