This financial services enthusiast empowers life through wealthtech

Oi-Yee Choo admits she is not a tiger mother. However, she is determined to expose her teenage daughters, ages 16 and 18, to various aspects of financial literacy.

Her older daughter is a part-time gymnastics coach to earn money. Family conversations often include financial concepts such as rent and mortgage, compound interest and cryptocurrency. Sometimes when Chu, a banking veteran, gets angry about current affairs, it also becomes a learning moment.

“There was a phase where I spewed about fraud in the market. So they are aware not to take things for granted just because it is digital,” says the CEO of digital securities exchange ADDX.

Give your children a head start in financial education

Thus, she also fills what she considers a void in the current education system. “Financial education should be a life skill no matter what path one takes. It should be a core part of the curriculum, but it’s not recognized today,” she emphasizes.

“It used to be quite simple, when you put your money in the bank, the interest rate on the bank’s savings was enough to see you through. Today, that is no longer the case.”

For this reason, Choo teaches kids concepts like risk profiles and the alternatives to putting cash in the bank. the outdated 70:30 investment portfolios (70 percent to stocks and 30 percent to fixed income) are now insufficient for the next generation to retire. “It is important that children experience risk and accept it as part of their lives. It’s not just about understanding money, it’s about managing your reaction to losing it,” she adds.

Related: How Citibank Singapore is redefining wealth management

The wealth technology industry is changing the game

The ethos of empowering people with the knowledge and ability to take control of their personal finances also drives her career trajectory. Before joining the wealthtech startup as Chief Commercial Officer in January 2020, she was Head of Investment Banking for UBS Singapore.

What prompted her to move from a traditional bank to a fintech company was the opportunity to play a game-changing role in the financial landscape.

“At UBS, many investment opportunities were shown to very large family offices or sovereign wealth funds. Sometimes someone might make a rhetorical comment like, “Oh, I’d like to invest in that, too,” Chu recalled.

However, such high-risk investments are not usually offered to individual investors. These include pre-IPOs, hedge funds or venture capital funds. They require large buy-ins for tickets and can be illiquid.

Enter ADDX’s blockchain technology and smart contracts. It tokenizes and fractionalizes multi-asset securities, making investments more accessible. These include private equity, hedge funds, bonds and pre-IPO companies.

By using regulated security tokens, the platform reduces the minimum investment ticket size from US$1 million to US$10,000 or less. This extends access to a much larger segment of accredited individual and corporate investors.

Perhaps there is a parallel with the REITS revolution of the early 2000s. Retail investors were then allowed to invest in this asset class. “This has created a tremendous tool for wealth management. Over the past 20 years, REITS have become part of the portfolio of anyone in the market,” says Chu, who helped found Parkway Life REIT while serving as senior vice president, strategy and business development, for Parkway Holdings, the largest health company in Asia.

Intrigued by the potential of ADDX’s technology and how it could potentially impact the financial landscape, she decided it was time to take the leap.

“ADDX solves three key problems for investors today that current private banks don’t offer – access to blue-chip names in the private markets, ticket sizing for the smaller investor, and exit mechanisms,” she says.

The latter is particularly important for investors, she adds, as they may have commitments such as their children’s education abroad to pay for in the future.

Today, the ADDX platform serves investors from 39 countries spanning the Asia-Pacific region, Europe and the Americas (excluding the US), and has shareholders that include the Singapore Stock Exchange (SGX), the Stock Exchange of Thailand and Temasek’s subsidiary Heliconia Capital.

Related: The Women Impact Investors Who Are Rethinking the Impact Investing Paradigm

Adopting a diversified approach to investments

This passion for democratizing wealth is deeply rooted in Chu’s psyche, stemming from formative experiences in her youth. During the financial crisis of the 1980s, she vividly remembers how her father, a bookmaker, lost his job when the company he worked for closed. Having seen the impact of two more financial crises in 1997 and 2007, the financial veteran has taken a diversified approach to investing.

“I tend to look at the longer term and understand that someone’s immediate reaction may not necessarily be the best reaction. You shouldn’t let emotions or panic drive you into a decision,” she says. “My personal thinking is that if you’re not watching your portfolio every day, you should trust that your portfolio is diversified and let it grow there.”

However, she also personally gives herself leeway for alternative investments that are for “personal enjoyment”. “I like watches and art is very complicated. I try to learn about the latter from friends who are interesting collectors. But my approach to them is “collection first, investment second,” she says.

She is also interested in angel investing. For example, if contacts start businesses that have the potential to make an impact, she says.

Related: Can Finance Be a Force for Good?

Crypto asset recognition for more to qualify for Accredited Investor status

At work, Chu, who was appointed CEO of ADDX in March, has shown courage in making bold moves. The private market exchange became the first financial institution in Singapore to recognize cryptocurrency assets for the purpose of attracting accredited investors in June. This opens the way for more individuals to qualify for Accredited Investor status. Therefore, allowing participation in more sophisticated investment opportunities such as those available on the ADDX platform.

It’s a natural next step in the democratization of private market investing, she says. “Cryptocurrencies are here to stay. They no longer exist only on the fringes of wealth and investment conversations. Since a large number of investors own crypto, it makes sense to recognize these digital assets as part of one’s portfolio – no different than any other asset that can be valued in the market, such as real estate or equity,” she says. Adequate risk management measures are in place to account for the volatility of crypto asset prices, she added.

Plus, as the recent crypto turbulence has shown, this move will also allow crypto investors to balance their portfolios by diversifying into regulated markets. This, Choo says, “is usually more stable across different phases of market cycles.”

Related: Investing in a Crisis: Should You Invest in Gold?

Driving the next revolution through talent and workplace culture

She takes a similar broad-minded approach to how she assembles her team at ADDX. She often prefers talents that demonstrate the right attitude to work.

“Our business is constantly growing, so that means the people we hire can’t be too isolated in their thinking. We need someone who is fast, knows how different departments function and interact, can communicate well and also react quickly,” Chu says.

Grades, she says, are less of a concern. They are not necessarily an indicator of how successful a person will be in the startup.

“I think about where the next revolution is and how that can be part of Singapore’s legacy in terms of building new business models or using technology to advance Singapore’s national capital markets agenda.”

Oi-Yee Choo, CEO, ADDX

Another hot topic she wants to address regarding workplace culture is the debate surrounding WFH (work from home) vs. WFO (work from office). “I try to be involved as much as possible because I found working from home a complete disaster. As I was just leaving the room, I couldn’t leave work,” she recalls. “I find it much easier to solve problems with my team in the office.”

However, as a working mother herself, she knows all too well the importance of flexibility and is happy to help facilitate this whenever possible. “For me, it’s about accountability and responsibility, and if people feel they can manage that balance, then I’m not too worried about it.”

In the end, what’s most important is keeping an eye on the big picture. It can continue to play a role in transforming the financial landscape and making it more accessible to more people.

Reflecting on her goal, she says: “I think about where the next revolution is and how that can be part of Singapore’s legacy in terms of building new business models or using technology to advance Singapore’s national capital markets agenda.”

Related: How UBS is leading the sustainable finance scene