E-commerce platform Bukalapak has partnered with online investment platform Tanamduit to introduce mutual fund products to first-time retail investors. The partnership will see local asset management firms Bahana TCW Investment Management, Batavia Prosperindo Asset Management and Sucorinvest Asset Management offer five new investment products, ranging from equity to fixed-income funds, on Bukalapak’s mutual funds platform BukaReksa.
At its launch in January 2017, BukaReksa only featured money market fund products offered by CIMB Principal Asset Management and Mandiri Manajemen Investasi.
But to capture a larger market, Bukalapak joined hands with finance marketplace Bareksa in December 2017, adding four more asset management firms, Kresna Asset Management, Syailendra Capital, Ciptadana Asset Management and BNP Paribas Investment Partners, to the platform
BukaReksa now features nine asset management firms offering 21 investment products, compared with Bareksa, which has 31 asset management firms offering 160 investment products.
“We hope our partnership with Tanamduit can boost financial literacy and investment in the country,” said Destya Danang Pradityo, head of payment and financial services at Bukalapak.
Through the BukaReksa platform, customers can invest from as little as Rp 100,000 to Rp 1.5 million ($7-$104) in mutual funds.
Destya said BukaReksa has at least 120,000 registered customers, with around half of them active investors from across the archipelago.
“We believe online investment will become part of our lifestyles. Our collaboration with Bukalapak forms part of our mission to educate people on the benefits of investing,” said Muhammad Hanif, business development director at Tanamduit.
With rapid technological development and the growth in online transactions, e-commerce players see opportunities to provide various services, including financial and investment products. This has seen the emergence of fintech startups offering mutual fund investment has been a trend over the past three years.
Aside from Bukalapak, other online marketplaces also joined hands with Bareksa, such as Tokopedia, which in April this year launched Tokopedia Reksadana, offering mutual funds through local asset management firm Syailendra Capital.
Another fintech startup, Invisee, has also been offering mutual fund products online in partnership with various asset management firms since last year.
According to Halim Haryono, deputy director of investment supervision and development at the Financial Services Authority (OJK), the number of people investing in mutual funds increased 16.25 percent year-on-year to about 930,000 by October this year, due to the rise of online mutual fund marketplaces.
Only about 400,000 people invested in mutual funds in 2016, Halim said.