Cover Stephanie Leung, head of Hong Kong and group deputy chief investment officer for StashAway (Photo: Courtesy of StashAway)
Stephanie Leung, head of Hong Kong and group deputy chief investment officer for StashAway (Photo: Courtesy of StashAway)
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Tatler+ StashAway
Stephanie Leung, head of Hong Kong and group deputy CIO of wealth management platform StashAway, on democratising investments
“With technology,” says Stephanie Leung, “everything is changing.”
She should know. Leung is the head of Hong Kong and group deputy chief investment officer for intelligent wealth management platform StashAway, which takes the guesswork out of investment and makes sophisticated wealth planning available to everyone.
Before joining the company, Leung spent more than 17 years managing multi-asset portfolios globally for leading investment bank and family offices. She made the decision to join StashAway, she says, because what the company does incorporates a lot of her personal investment philosophy, which she believes will truly help investors achieve financial freedom over the long term.
A robo-advisory service, StashAway replaces the gut instinct of human investment managers with hard data and a super smart algorithm that can not only process far more data than a human, but also do so with a laser focus on delivering the best returns personalised for each person’s risk tolerance. It does so in a way that democratises access to smart investing on an app, making personal investment automated and stress-free.
“At StashAway, we serve anyone who wants a smart, fuss-free, long-term wealth partner,” Leung says. “We have a very wide range of customers, but what’s central to these customers is not the wealth they have but the fact that they all place a high value on spending their precious time on what matters most to them, whether it is family or a passion project.” As a busy person building a fast-growing business in Hong Kong and across the region, Leung spends her spare time on personal pursuits, from ultra-trail running to sailing. She sees herself as an archetypal StashAway user.
Traditional investment is very time consuming, and human labour is expensive, which has traditionally put a lot of wealth management services out of the price range of all but the very wealthy. And while 20 per cent of StashAway’s assets under management come from high-net-worth individuals, StashAway’s algorithm harnesses technology to enable people to start with significantly lower investment and fees compared to what is currently available. This opens up professional investment management to swathes of people who would never previously have considered it an option.
Above Stephanie Leung, head of Hong Kong and group deputy chief investment officer for StashAway (Photo: Courtesy of StashAway)
Stephanie Leung, head of Hong Kong and group deputy chief investment officer for StashAway (Photo: Courtesy of StashAway)
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“Services like StashAway are an excellent vehicle for getting people to diversify their portfolios and invest over a longer-term horizon,” Leung says. “Our mission is to empower people to build wealth over the long term. Not everyone has the resources or knowledge to construct a well-balanced portfolio. Many investors often only buy three to five stocks, which may have been chosen on the basis of familiarity rather than data-driven analysis. That is not a diversified portfolio. When you think about a pool portfolio, you can generate long-term returns while also lowering risk. It’s about economic truths, not throwing dice.”
Avoiding the lengthy paperwork and approval processes that often come with traditional investment pathways, a StashAway account can be set up in as little as 10 minutes, with users sharing a simple set of preferences, from their risk tolerance to financial goals. This information is then used to build a balanced, globally diversified portfolio, as well as a range of thematic portfolios in areas including technology, healthcare and environmental impact. With an equal focus on the “advisor” element of robo-advisory, StashAway’s uniquely personalised client engagement and wealth advisory offering cater to all manner of customer needs.
Leung is far from the only financial professional to have been won over by StashAway’s offer; in fact, amongst StashAway customers, the largest representation by industry work in finance. “That was quite a surprising insight for us, but it’s because of the sophistication we’ve built into the product,” she says. Following finance, technology and education sectors show strong representation as well. “Our hope is that everyone will reap the benefits of what StashAway has already built, to achieve financial freedom while focusing on what matters to them most.”
Learn more about StashAway here
