Over 100 alumni, postgraduate students, faculty and staff attended the 12th Master of Science in Wealth Management (MWM) Annual Alumni Event on 7th October 2016. Held at the University Lounge, alumni spanning across the twelve batches and students from the current thirteenth batch of the MWM programme networked over dinner and after, participated in an insightful roundtable discussion.
The SMU MWM programme is a pioneering and leading wealth management programme, ranked 3rd in the world by Financial Times (FT) Global Masters in Finance Post-experience Ranking 2016 survey. It is jointly designed by SMU, the Wealth Management Institute (WMI), Swiss Finance Institute (SFI), Yale University, USA and key industry players. Now in its thirteenth year, the programme’s curriculum covers the value chain of wealth management, including asset management, investment and client advisory. Industry talks and networking sessions are organised throughout the year with the alumni event as an annual fixture. Helmed by the MWM Alumni Group and the MWM Programme Office, and supported by the Office of Alumni Relations, this year’s alumni event included a value-adding FinTech Roundtable discussion with a panel of distinguished speakers.
President of the MWM Alumni Group Mr Heng Koon How welcomed the crowd and shared the Alumni Group’s upcoming events including the Annual Lunar New Year Lohei gathering early next year. Chief Operating Officer of WMI Mr Benedict Leh thanked the alumni who continuously return to SMU to contribute by providing internships or lecturing in the one of the academic programmes.
Academic Director of the MWM Programme Professor Francis Koh moderated the roundtable discussion that followed and expressed his appreciation to the three prominent speakers. “MWM business is a people’s business. It is important to stay close together, build bonds with one another and be updated with what is happening in the real world. Tonight, we are honoured to have three panellists with three different perspectives on the complex challenges faced in the FinTech industry.”
Financial technology, also known as FinTech, is an economic industry composed of companies that use technology to make financial services more efficient. The panel of distinguished speakers for the night were Professor David Lee Kuo Chuen, Professor Aaron Low and Mr Kazumasa Tomita.
Prof Lee is a Professor with UniSIM, a 2015 Fulbright Scholar at Stanford University and an angel investor in Blockchain companies and cryptocurrency. He is also the founder of Dlee Capital Management and various other companies. His award winning book “Digital Currency” was voted as outstanding by the American Library Association. Prof Lee was also nominated by Internal Consulting Group as the Global Thought Leader for FinTech and Blockchain.
Speaking with wealth of experience in manufacturing, finance, hospitality, real estate, wealth management and consultancy, Prof Lee said, “It is much easier for a financial person to deal with technology than the other way around. We need to come up with new business models and lower business cost by using technology, moving from economies of scale to economies of scope.” Regarding challenges with the eminent rise of the usage of FinTech, he commented, “Legacy issues in the banking industry will be affected the most and high-margin business institutions will get hit badly.”
Prof Low is a Principal and Managing Director of Lumen Advisors LLC in San Francisco and Director of Lumen Funds where he co-leads strategies on stocks, bonds and currencies. He is currently the Executive Chair, Board of Governors, of the CFA Institute. Prof Low also sits on the Board of Trustees for the Singapore Government Pension Fund, Board of Advisors of the Investment Management Association of Singapore (iMAS) and Temasek Wealth Management Institute, and is a Senior Investment Advisor to Harvest Fund Management Company in Beijing.
Prof Low said, “FinTech is not new, it has been around. It is important for us to upgrade our skills and be better equipped with the latest technology to be a better financial advisor.” Touching on the future of FinTech, he continued “I read this quote, ‘I have never seen a man that is better than a machine. I have never seen a machine that is better than a man and a machine’ - the future of Fintech is having the best of both worlds; that is the power of man and machine combined.”
Last but not least, Mr Tomita san who is CEO and Founder of ZUU Co. Ltd, shared with the audience on his company as one of Japan’s largest and fastest growing finance-related media sites. Graduated in 2011 from the MWM programme, Mr Tomita san quitted his job as a senior private banker and established finance-focused start-up ZUU, providing various online tools and services for users. ZUU Online is a FinTech platform which currently attracts 3 million monthly unique users and more than 10 million total monthly page views. ZUU Advisors is a matching service that connects users with real-word financial planners and accountants. ZUU Signals, is an online portfolio management platform that allows users to get an instant snapshot of their assets. ZUU also runs a premium real estate portal.
The audience was intrigued by the sharing from the panelists and a few hands were raised during the questions and answers segment. The key take-away at the end of the day was the various ways in which wealth management industry professionals can use technology to their advantage, to be better financial advisors. There is a constant need to upgrade and be in touch with the latest technology, to rethink process and reinvent to stay on top of the game.
Click here to view more photos from the event. To find out more about the MWM Alumni Group, visit the Group’s webpage here.