Phillip Securities, the brokerage and wealth management arm of PhillipCapital, has launched the first robo service in Singapore to offer a portfolio that invests entirely in US stocks, giving clients direct ownership of the underlying portfolio stock holdings.

SMART Portfolio US Equity invests in large-cap stocks in the US markets with an average of 10 to 15 counters in the portfolio. With just S$3,000 (US$2,500), clients can own a portfolio of US stocks which will be built, monitored, and optimized under the robo service.

Phillip Securities, which says it is the largest retail broker in Singapore, taps into a large pool of data to generate reliable insights. Between 2020 and 2021, the number of its clients trading in the US markets increased by almost 25%.

The robo service caters to investors who are keen to invest in the US markets through automated investing.  Management fees are fixed at 0.8% per annum, with no brokerage, performance, platform, rebalancing, or upfront fees.

PhillipCapital’s SMART Portfolio consists of three portfolios of various risk profiles with unit trusts as the underlying. The service employs an in-house algorithm that digests more than 1,000 data points daily with strict position limits for risk management. The information is utilized by the chief investment officer (CIO) and investment team to select the funds to form the portfolios.

“We do not subscribe to a fixed rebalancing schedule,” says Chan Wai Chee, CIO Phillip Managed Accounts. “Our investment team monitors the markets and rebalances the portfolio when necessary, based on the volatility in the markets. This allows our proprietary algorithm to react in a timely manner when it deems fit.”

As an automated wealth management service, robo services can also suit prospective investors who are either unable to monitor the markets or are susceptible to emotional investing in market volatility, the firm says.