Asian households continue to hold up to half their wealth in cash. Fintech platforms like Syfe aim to change that

As he grew up in India, Dhruv Arora’s mother shared a key piece of financial guidance with him: Put his money in the bank. 

But Arora, now the , quickly found that following his mother’s advice meant his money “did absolutely nothing.”

“We have a strong culture of saving,” Arora says, referencing Asia’s often unstable economic and policy history. However, inflation and low interest rates end up reducing the value of household savings. “Over time, the $100 you put in the bank doesn’t turn into $101, but effectively becomes $98” because of inflation’s effects.

Asian households sometimes hold as much as 50% of their net worth in cash, rather than in investments or assets. In comparison, in developed markets such as the U.S. and Europe, that proportion is closer to 15%. 

Yet this conservative mindset in Asia is beginning to shift. Asians are accumulating more wealth, prompting them to explore diverse investment options. Robust stock market performance is also driving a new wave of retail investors across the Asia-Pacific region.

“Asian households are gradually starting to engage with stock markets,” HSBC economists wrote in a Jan. 9 report, though they noted that “overall equity investment remains relatively low.” The bank forecasts that a steady move from low-yield cash to higher-yield investments will mean “more funds will continue to flow into equity markets over the next few years,” lessening reliance on foreign investors. 

A number of fintech apps have emerged in recent years to cater to a growing interest in investing and wealth management among Asian users. These alternative finance platforms, including Syfe, Stashaway and Endowus, typically offer a variety of investment choices, ranging from cash management to managed portfolios and options trading. The challenge, Arora says, is to “bridge the gap between holding money and growing wealth” and “give more people the confidence to put their savings to productive use.”

Arora began his career as an investment banker at UBS in Hong Kong in 2008, shortly after the Global Financial Crisis. Despite Asia’s relatively swift recovery, Arora observed that professionals in the region were building wealth but lacked knowledge on managing it. “These were intelligent individuals like doctors, lawyers and consultants, who were succeeding professionally but simply didn’t know what to do with their money,” he says. 

He launched Syfe in 2019, just months before another global crisis: The COVID-19 pandemic. However, the pandemic turned out to be an opportunity for fintech platforms like Syfe. “It acted as a catalyst for a change in investor behavior,” Arora explained, as people suddenly had time to engage with financial markets.

In the U.S., for instance, people confined at home started participating in stock trading via platforms like Robinhood. Driven by social media, these retail investors began heavily trading so-called meme stocks such as GameStop and AMC.

Syfe has since expanded from its home market of Singapore to new Asia-Pacific economies like Australia and Hong Kong. The platform continues to grow both its user base and company revenue, and the firm claims it achieved profitability in Q4 2025. It is now a “self-sustaining organization,” Arora says. 

Syfe closed an $80 million Series C funding round last year and is backed by major investors such as NYC-based Valar Ventures and UK-based investment firm Unbound.

According to the company, the platform’s users generated $2 billion in returns while saving $80 million in fees last year. 

Currently, Arora aims to strengthen Syfe’s presence in its existing markets. Last year, the platform began rolling out customized offerings for its users, such as private credit for accredited investors looking to diversify their portfolios on Syfe. Syfe plans to launch options trading in 2026.

Arora notes that over time, many of Syfe’s users have become more comfortable taking larger investment risks, moving from Syfe-managed portfolios to more active trading on brokerages and income portfolios.

Nonetheless, he ultimately intends to introduce Syfe to new markets in North Asia and the Middle East, which have substantial populations of what Arora refers to as the “mass affluent”—individuals with significant investable assets and above-average incomes, though not in the high-net-worth category. 

“This demographic has historically been ‘caught in the middle’: too large for basic retail banking services, yet often underserved by traditional private banks,” he explains.