Raiz Invest Indonesia launches investment application

• In partnership with CIMB Niaga to help users transfer funds directly using CIMB Clicks
• Investment ecosystem compatible with financial behaviour and lifestyle of millennials

PT RAIZ Invest Indonesia (Raiz) on Aug 27 announced the launch of its mobile-based investment platform application. Raiz Invest Indonesia was licensed as a Mutual Fund Selling Agent (APERD) by the Financial Services Authority (OJK) in December 2018.

Raiz focuses on providing mutual fund products with simple characteristics, which can be the initial gateway for millennials to invest.

Raiz Invest Indonesia chief executive officer Melinda N Wiria said, "Since the beginning, our mission was to make this platform a tool capable of building investment habits for individuals, especially millennials.

“We began by identifying investment barriers that exist in the community, one of which is an understanding of investment not only through education and outreach alone. The real challenge is how to nudge those who have realised the importance of investing to get themselves into the act."

To that end, Raiz created an investment ecosystem that is compatible with the financial behaviour and lifestyle of the current millennial generation who generally have a high interest in pursuing lifestyles and have unstable financial planning.

Raiz offers an investment platform integrated with banks and electronic money, which is the source of funds and mode of payment often used by millennials.

According to Bank Indonesia data, the volume of non-cash transactions in 2018 reached 60.6%, consisting of debit card transactions, internet banking, and electronic money.

The integration of Raiz services with these payment modes allows Raiz users to directly invest funds from their bank accounts or electronic money without having to make transfers to mutual fund accounts.

This concept becomes the essence of Raiz services, where financial transactions (spend) and investment (invest) activities can go hand in hand, thus growing an investment habit in individuals.

To achieve this concept, Raiz cooperates with partners that share the same vision and mission in increasing financial inclusion.

Raiz is currently partnering with CIMB Niaga to help users transfer funds directly using CIMB Clicks internet banking service. In this partnership, a user needs to have a savings account at CIMB Niaga.

Head of Digital Business Development of CIMB Niaga Anton Hermawan explained that the partnership is expected to accelerate financial inclusion in the country.

"CIMB Niaga has long been targeting customers from the younger generation, so more people can enjoy banking services. The products we offer are designed to stay relevant to digital trends among millennials.

“We also agree that if the investor's mindset has been formed in such a way as to believe in the product’s superiority, they will gradually be more responsive to other financial products that may bring benefits to their financial goals," said Anton.

In addition to the service ecosystem strengthened by the presence of payment gateway partners, Raiz has partnered with Avrist Asset Management as an investment manager which manages mutual funds offered in the Raiz application. The types of mutual funds offered are Money Market Mutual Funds, Fixed Income Mutual Funds, and Index Funds (LQ45).

According to Raiz Invest Indonesia chief marketing officer Fahmi Arya, “As technology develops, financial industry players must share roles in creating innovative financial products and services for the community.

“Raiz’s collaborative ecosystem that cooperates with payment mode partners is a manifestation of Raiz commitment in supporting the stability of the financial industry in Indonesia, concerning the impact of this collaboration is beneficial for the cross-sector of the financial industry, such as capital markets, digital payments, and banking. We hope that in the future we will be able to partner with other payment mode partners so that Raiz users can enjoy the flexibility in choosing their preference of funding source or payment method, " Fahmi said.

Raiz claims that its business model is not an online mutual fund supermarket, but rather a mutual fund purchase channel.

At this launch, Raiz introduced two investment features. The first feature is Recurring Investment, an investment method where users can make installments of investments in a certain amount and frequency. The second feature is Lump Sum Investment or instant investment, where users directly invest a certain amount of money at a time

“By building a conducive investment ecosystem, starting with free transfer fees, affordable minimum investment value, and a choice of service features in line with the millennial lifestyle, Raiz strives to present a democratic investment concept, where we want everyone to start investing regardless of their lifestyle and investment amount.

“We are optimistic that the Raiz application can help produce more novice investors. We hope to reach 40,000 users by the end of 2019,” Melinda concluded.

The Raiz application can now be downloaded on Google Play Store for Android mobile users and will be followed by iPhone mobile users shortly.