iFAST

[weijian]

iFast still the one to beat ?

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https://www.theedgesingapore.com/news/fi...s-end-2023
"...As part of the winding down process, MoneyOwl will transfer its investment and insurance businesses to iFast Financial...."

Endowus grows revenue 2.5x in 2022, but losses rise to $20m (update)
https://www.techinasia.com/endowus-doubl...s-rose-26m

hi dreamybear,

The way I look at it - IFAST just inherited a business that is losing money. Of course, it is now up to Chairman Lim and his team to cross sell to MoneyOwl's clients who are currently not IFAST clients. There is probably also some cost synergies since 85% of MoneyOwl staff will not transfer to IFAST. IFAST is a "platform" business and so having a bigger ecosystem helps.

The competitor Endowus is losing money (and has capital to continue losing). As we have learnt in the ride hailing wars of the last decade, it is never good to the bottomline.

[EnSabahNur]

It sounds like the less successful players are exiting the business. Perhaps more consolidation is coming.

[weijian]

When iFAST acquired the UK bank (now renamed as iFAST Global bank), I was a short and long term pessimist. The short term turned out to be right (normally it does, because of the way the capital cycle works). But Chairman/CEO/Founder Lim is calling out my long term pessimism as well. He will probably be more right than me as he has schooled me that "banking is the least competitive part of the finance sector".

We believe that several years down the line, shareholders will be able to see that our decision to buy a full-licensed UK bank in early 2022 has been a transformative move which substantially raises the Group’s long-term growth potential. In our view, banking is the least competitive part of the financial sector, as there tends to be very few new players in the banking industry in most countries. There are far more players in fund management, stockbroking and wealth management distribution and advisory, and many new players are emerging every year.

IFAST AR23:
https://links.sgx.com/FileOpen/iFASTCorp...eID=794401

[Curiousparty]

When iFAST acquired the UK bank (now renamed as iFAST Global bank), I was a short and long term pessimist. The short term turned out to be right (normally it does, because of the way the capital cycle works). But Chairman/CEO/Founder Lim is calling out my long term pessimism as well. He will probably be more right than me as he has schooled me that "banking is the least competitive part of the finance sector".

We believe that several years down the line, shareholders will be able to see that our decision to buy a full-licensed UK bank in early 2022 has been a transformative move which substantially raises the Group’s long-term growth potential. In our view, banking is the least competitive part of the financial sector, as there tends to be very few new players in the banking industry in most countries. There are far more players in fund management, stockbroking and wealth management distribution and advisory, and many new players are emerging every year.

IFAST AR23:
https://links.sgx.com/FileOpen/iFASTCorp...eID=794401

i have benefited a lot from holding iFast since $1...nothing much to complain about... only time will tell if his words came true... The first BIG event will be the breakeven of iGB segment by Q4 2024....which is just 9 months away....Need about $1Bil cash deposit to generate about $10mil NI income ($1bil x 1%) to offset the expenses for the IGB segment. Doable?  Cash deposit in Q4 2023 came in at around $150mil. So we just need about $200mil for 4 more quarters...Hopefully optimistic...

Customers' deposit was $358.62mil (as of end Q4 2023)....


Every $1bil of customer deposit will contribute to about $10mil revenue or ~$1 valuation ( $10mil x PE 30/295mil shares).
iFast's strategy is to onboard 1 mil new clients, with each bringing about $10 to $20k over the next few years.

Assuming 15K per client, that will be $15bil new customer deposit or $15 valuation from IGB alone. 
- not forgetting that iFast still has the e-pension business, generating about $80mil to $100mil net profit at steady state & 
- the core wealth management business ( $1bil AUA margin = 0.7%; iFast target is $100bil by 2030)



====

https://fintechnews.my/40964/ai/ifast-in...t-5-years/
As part of its expansion, iFAST Global Hub.ai plans to invest over RM 150 million and hire 400 digital talents over the next five years.

https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/events-...come-truly
Lim noted that the cash market for retail investors is not properly developed, and iFast is aiming to get more clients from Asia on board.
“That kind of ease of use, and then good interest rate ... that’s something that most banks don’t want to provide,” he said. “Just being able to provide a simple service and then giving a decent rate for the simplest product. That’s a starting point ... From there, some of that will flow to other investment products.”
The way Lim sees it, getting one million clients for the bank in five years is a reasonable target.
“If on average, each of them just put S$10,000-S$20,000, that’s already S$10-20 billion,” he said.

[Curiousparty]

iFast's current market capitalization is only $2 billion, which is a very tiny drop in the world of finance..
(need to bear in mind that iFast only has $295mil shares)

Even if it didn't achieve that Big Dream, i would think that $5b to $10b market capitalization would be easily achievable given time for iGB to collect more customer's deposit.

$16 to $30+ share price is not inconceivable in the next 5 years from TODAY....(e.g. $50b AUA x 1% margin = $500mil net profit or $1.7 EPS. Assuming PE =20, $34...)

In the long run, perhaps Chairman Lim’s perspective will prevail, emphasizing the unique dynamics of the banking sector. After all, as the saying goes, “time will tell.”

[Curiousparty]

DBS upgrades iFast to ‘buy’ with higher TP of $9.57 as outlook turns more positive

https://www.theedgesingapore.com/capital...e-positive

[Curiousparty]

I'm very curious about the new customers depositing with iFast Global Banks.

Once the banking segment breaks even, most of the revenue will translate directly to profit, with minimal additional costs.

The pace of growth in customer deposits is actually accelerating. For instance, if iFast Global Banking can add just a few billion dollars of customer deposits each year (bearing in mind that this pace is expected to accelerate with the new AI building staffed with 500 people to handle customer services), $1 billion will add about $10 million in profits, or a $1 valuation annually.

iFast would likely make sensational headlines if its banking segment, iFast Global Bank (iGB), breaks even in Q4 2024. Perhaps no digital bank has ever achieved profitability so swiftly on this planet!

https://evergreeninvesting.wordpress.com...cylinders/

[money]

i do have a different perspective.

i was wondering why will the average person not go to his/her local banks with a strong local presence (i.e. singaporean will think about dbs, ocbc, uob) and instead choose to bank with this "Global bank"? Is the global bank accepting customers that the local banks dont want?

i also dont see small digital banks compete successfully with incumbent banks. Digital banks dont seem to be able to scale effectively. Say different people from country A, country B, country C...., country Z want to take up loan, i will be skeptical that the small digital bank can underwrite all the loans smartly and efficiently. You will need to train personnel to be familiar with the rules and regulation in different countries, all of these cost money and i would say that small digital banks wont be able to do it effectively

[Curiousparty]

https://thesmartinvestor.com.sg/will-ifa...a-by-2030/

iFAST Global Bank (iGB)
iGB continues to gain traction in attracting deposits, hitting S$515 million in the latest quarter (4Q 2023: S$359 million, 3Q 2023: $232 million), up 476% year on year.

The cash deposits in iGB come from about 70 countries, of which about a third comes from the UK.

The company believes that there is a strong demand from customers to open a bank account outside of their home countries.

While the market is competitive for the high net worth individuals, there is little competition for the mass affluent.

At the current moment, iFAST prefers to be conservative with its banking business, so as to minimise the risk on their balance sheet.

The current strategy is simply to take the deposits and place the bulk of them in safe instruments with the Bank of England.

This approach earns a spread of between 1.0% to 1.5%.

iGB is targeting breakeven by 4Q2024.

[Curiousparty]

i do have a different perspective.
i was wondering why will the average person not go to his/her local banks with a strong local presence (i.e. singaporean will think about dbs, ocbc, uob) and instead choose to bank with this "Global bank"? Is the global bank accepting customers that the local banks dont want?
i also dont see small digital banks compete successfully with incumbent banks. Digital banks dont seem to be able to scale effectively. Say different people from country A, country B, country C...., country Z want to take up loan, i will be skeptical that the small digital bank can underwrite all the loans smartly and efficiently. You will need to train personnel to be familiar with the rules and regulation in different countries, all of these cost money and i would say that small digital banks wont be able to do it effectively

iFast doesn't even need to underwrite loans; they're sticking with a simple, plain-vanilla approach to earning 1 to 1.5%, close to risk-free earnings. Accumulating $15 billion to $20 billion of customer deposits shouldn't be a tall order to achieve in a few years' time, especially with the establishment of an AI center to accelerate the acquisition of new customers. We're talking about 400 headcounts in the center to service customers on this planet Earth!


When the CEO said that iGB would be a major driver going forward from 2025, I took it to mean that he would achieve it, as evidenced by the success of the e-pension project, which came to fruition despite earlier skepticism from the market..

I believe Mr Market would play a "delay-action" catch-up game in terms of pricing iFast correctly. Soon, they would realize that iFast is a massive goldmine with the license to print money, much like USA FED...$1b customer deposit = $1 in share price