Kenanga Launches New Robo Advisor, KDI Invest

Alex Cheong Pui Yin

15th February 2022 - 3 min read

Kenanga Investment Bank’s digital investment arm, Kenanga Digital Investment (KDI), has launched its own robo advisor by the name of KDI Invest. Introduced today alongside the KDI Save cash management fund, KDI Invest allows Kenanga customers to grow their wealth with access to selected exchange traded funds (ETFs) listed in the United States.

KDI Invest invests in a fixed pool of ETFs, carefully screened and curated to offer a range of top-performing developed and emerging equities, fixed income, commodities, and currencies. According to its FAQ, KDI stated that KDI Invest is focused on the US stock exchange market because the US market “offers the most liquid, deepest, and widest range of ETFs covering asset classes across the world, compared to ETFs listed in other countries.”

The artificial intelligence engine behind KDI Invest – dubbed the Factor Analytics Machine Learning Engine (F.A.M.E.) – will monitor global market conditions and rebalances customers’ portfolios automatically, thereby offering convenience and removing the influence of human emotions. Its back-tested portfolio performance yielded average annual return rates between 7.3% to 16.7% from 2004 to February 2021.

One way KDI Invest will stand out is in its fees, offering one of the lowest management fees in the market. Those who invest RM3,000 or less will be able to do so for free, whereas investments of RM3,000 and more will be subjected to management fees of between 0.3% to 0.7% per annum, depending on the investment amounts, broken down in the table here:

Additionally, there are no upfront or switching fees. Meanwhile, the minimum investment amount and minimum balance requirement for KDI Invest are both set at RM250.

If you’re interested to test out KDI Invest, you will first need to sign up for a KDI account, during which you are required to provide some personal information and verify your identity via the electronic-Know Your Customer (eKYC) process. Once done, start your KDI Invest journey by selecting a risk profile and an investment portfolio. The asset allocation of your portfolio will be determined by KDI Invest’s Digital Asset Allocation System (DAAS) in accordance with your risk appetite. Meanwhile, investment deposits can be done either via FPX (online) or cheque deposits (offline).

KDI Invest is not the only new product that was launched by Kenanga Investment Bank on its KDI platform today. Complementing KDI Invest is KDI Save, a cash management fund that let you earn daily returns on your savings (projected at 2.25% p.a.), with no lock-in period and management fee.

Both KDI Invest and KDI Save are available on the KDI platform and the KDI mobile app on Google Play and the Apple App Store.

Alex Cheong Pui Yin

Previously covered recruitment-related stories and had a short stint as a copywriter for the property industry. She subsequently developed an interest in investment and robo-advisors.

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Alex Cheong Pui Yin

Previously covered recruitment-related stories and had a short stint as a copywriter for the property industry. She subsequently developed an interest in investment and robo-advisors.

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