SINGAPORE – A finance company founded and run by former Google executives is making high-powered wealth management tools and products usually reserved for the rich more widely available here.
Arta Finance chief executive and co-founder Caesar Sengupta said the company aims to offer personalised services and democratise wealth management, using artificial intelligence (AI) to create capabilities that have previously been the preserve of only the ultra-wealthy.
“There are millions of professionals like us in tech, finance, consulting, entertainment who fall into this massive gap between retail and private banking… all underserved,” he said.
Arta Finance, which was set up by former Google executives and backed by luminaries in technology and finance, launched its digital wealth platform globally in Singapore on Oct 11 – a year after its US debut.
The platform offers access to alternative assets, liquidity through credit lines and AI-driven investing in public markets, without the sales pressure, administrative burdens and high fees seen at some other institutions.
It also offers an option to support philanthropic giving in partnership with Co-Axis, a Temasek Trust initiative.
Arta’s platform is available to accredited investors in Singapore and international investors open to managing their wealth here. They can open a free account, with no minimum charges, in “just a few minutes”, Mr Sengupta said, adding that early members will get their first investment up to $100,000 managed free for life, with terms and conditions applicable.
The firm has ambitions to reach investors in other markets, including Mr Sengupta’s native India, where the number of super rich is growing.
“India will be huge,” he said.
An accredited investor in Singapore must have either a minimum income of $300,000 over the previous 12 months (or its equivalent in a foreign currency), or net personal assets exceeding $2 million. The net value of the