iFAST, which is one of my major positions reported a mixed set of results for the second quarter of 2019 but there was some good news too.

Assets under administration (AUA) grew 8.5% year on year to a record SGD9.0 billion despite weak unit trust subscriptions. The company’s bond business is growing rapidly with bonds being the second largest part of total AUA. Bonds made up 7.5% of the company’s AUA in Q2 2019 compared to 6.2% in the same period last year. Bonds sold on iFAST platforms also grew 6% quarter on quarter.

Net revenue grew 9.5% but net profit fell 16.5% year on year to SGD2.5 million because of IT investments related to new products (eg. cash sweep account in Singapore and bonds in Malaysia) and deeper losses in China. The drop in China AUA and larger net loss is troubling but probably expected given the uncertainty around