* #1 wealth manager in the mass affluent & emerging HNI segment.
* Partnered with 50+ family offices and wealth managers
* UAE is the fourth country of expansion after Singapore, Hong Kong & India
* Building a comprehensive wealth management suite for banks & wealth managers
* Top investor profiles comprise of CXOs, second-gen business owners and tech entrepreneurs
Kristal, a private wealth advisory and investment management platform said that it has crossed SGD500M ($370M) mark in assets under management (AUM). The platform has thus witnessed 5X annual growth in its AUM, since its launch in 2016 in Singapore.
Kristal aims to democratize private banking. A private wealth account at Kristal starts at $50,000 compared to $1,000,000 at global private banks. Just like a private bank, Kristal also offers hands-off investing experience to its private wealth clients. Investors, if they prefer, don’t have to spend time researching or monitoring their portfolio. They have a team of a relationship manager, investment advisor and an award-winning Algo supervising their investments at all times. It is experiences like these that have made Kristal the no.1 wealth manager in the mass affluent & emerging HNI segment of Asia.
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Kristal has also opened new opportunities for Indian investors. Unlike most platforms that offer only fractional stocks & ETFs, Kristal offers pre-IPO deals, VC funds, Private Equity Funds, Hedge Funds, Arbitrage Funds, Life Settlement funds, Bond Funds, Structured Notes, plus immigration services. Beyond the benefit of choice Indian investors can also do better diversification with Kristal as it fractionalizes the funds. For example, an institutional fund which has a stated investment minimum of $200,000 is available on the platform for as low as $25,000. This also allows investors flexibility in allocating the $250,000 annual LRS limit set by RBI across multiple funds. Instead of investing in one fund they can potentially invest in ten funds and achieve better diversification.
Kristal’s top investor profiles comprise CXOs and senior executives besides second generation business owners and tech entrepreneurs, belonging to the age bracket of 25-45 years. Key factors driving these investors to Kristal are 1) access to alpha generating opportunities like Pre-IPO deals, buyout funds etc. 2) ability to hedge currency risk by saving in dollars 3) option to save for kids’ higher education overseas. The option to create customized portfolios using the AI and also own it jointly with family members is an added plus.
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Kristal has grown 5X every year since its inception in 2016. Today it has clients across 20 countries with a majority in Singapore & India. On the occasion, Mr. Asheesh Chanda, Founder and CEO, Kristal, said, “A critical success factor behind our growth has been our ability to deliver the premium global products & advisory at reasonable price to investors. The fact that we help banks & wealth managers expand their product offerings & client base, has also contributed tremendously to our success. We are here to increase the size of the wealth management industry and not take away market share from existing players. Hence partnership is our mantra as we pursue our goal of 20X growth by 2025.”
Singapore, Hong Kong, India & UAE are the focus markets for Kristal for the next 12-18 months. It has augmented its leadership team to drive the growth. Ms. Aarthi Ramakrishnan, a seasoned investment banker and private investor with over 20 years of experience across several global banks, joined Kristal India as Country Head – India and Middle East. Mr. Manmohan Mall, an experienced global investment banker with 18+ years of experience across asset classes and geographies, has joined Kristal Singapore as Head – Private Markets, a newly established business vertical offering equity/debt investment solutions around early to late stage pre-IPO companies, which will be a key growth driver for the overall business.
The next milestone for Kristal is to “Shopify” wealth management. Kristal is creating a comprehensive wealth management suite for banks, advisors & distributors. It will not only offer wealth, risk management, CRM features, but also enable creation of partner websites & apps. It will provide a complete tech infrastructure in plug & play mode to wealth managers. This vision has excited its partners as it allows them to focus more on wealth & less on tech.
“We are here to compliment Indian banks & wealth managers and not compete against them. The industry is still small and if we join hands all of us have enough room to grow.” is how Mr. Asheesh Chanda summarized the strategy of the company.
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