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How iFAST Reached New Profit And Asset Milestones In Q3 2025 · Investor Exchange

• 0:02
  Time for another Investor Exchange podcast. Here are your hosts, Matt and Sally.
• 0:08
  Welcome back to the Deep Dive. Today, we're looking into a really interesting set of financials.
• 0:13
  They tell a story not just about growth, but I think transformation is the right word.
• 0:17
  Definitely. We're doing a deep dive into IFAS Corporation's Q3 and nine-month results for 2025.
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  It's a period that seems marked by, well, some strategic breakthroughs and record
• 0:28
  performance. It's a great case study, actually.
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  It lets us really examine how you scale one of these multi-market integrated fintech platforms.
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  Right. We're not just glancing at the quarterly numbers. We're trying to dissect
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  how they successfully brought together their core wealth management business
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  with this newly profitable digital banking arm.
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  OK, so our mission today is to get beyond just the headline figures.
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  We need to unpack what's really driving this surge, right?
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  Identify those, what, three core pillars powering the profit?
• 0:58
  Exactly. The three pillars.
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  And then see how these results stack up against their, well,
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  pretty ambitious long term strategy, especially that big AUA goal they have
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  assets under administration.
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  And understanding the why here, it means connecting a few things,
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  geography, regulation and that core tech integration.
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  We need to see how diversification, which sometimes just adds complexity,
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  actually seem to become a source of strength for them in Q3.
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  OK, let's start with the scale then, because the numbers themselves are quite stark.
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  Looking at Q3 2025, their net profit, it didn't just nudge up.
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  It surged 54.7 percent year on year, landed at S26.01 million dollars.
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  That's a huge leap. It really is. And that strong quarter, you know,
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  it carried through the first nine months as well. For that full 9M 2025 period,
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  net profit grew 41.8% year-on-year, hit $67.15 million.
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  Wow. When you sustain that kind of pace across three quarters,
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  it signals something deeper is going on. Proper operational efficiency,
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  not just a lucky break in the market.
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  And the top line matched that pace, gross revenue. Yep. Total gross revenue
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  for Q3 was up 37.0% year-on-year.
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  That's $135.82 million.
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  But like you said, for a wealth platform... It's all about the AUA, right?
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  Exactly. Assets under administration, they hit an all-time high,
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  $30.62 billion. Okay, $30.62 billion.
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  AUA is definitely the essential metric here. And hitting that number,
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  it represents almost 30% growth year on year.
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  29.6%, to be precise. Impressive.
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  And for you listening, the key insight isn't just the size of the growth, it's the breadth.
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  Their wealth management businesses in all their main markets,
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  Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, China, they hit record AUA levels.
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  At the same time. Simultaneously. Wow. Yeah. It suggests that underlying platform,
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  the architecture, it's genuinely scalable across different regions.
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  And that success must have resonated with clients. I saw the net inflow numbers.
• 2:50
  Oh, yeah. Reflected strongly there.
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  Record net inflows, S1.49 billion dollars just in Q3.
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  That's an 83.6% jump compared to last year. What's credible momentum.
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  And put in context, the total net inflows for the first nine months of 2025.
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  S3.72 billion dollars. That number already beats the net inflows for the entire
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  previous financial year, FY 2024.
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  Already surpassed the whole last year? By over 10%. Yeah. It really demonstrates
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  their accelerated customer acquisition and, crucially, holding on to those assets,
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  platform stickiness, you know?
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  Okay, so the results are undeniable. Now, the critical part, why?
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  How did this happen? It feels less like one single thing and more like maybe
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  three different strategic pushes all clicking at once.
• 3:34
  Precisely. That's a good way to put it. The profit surge wasn't isolated.
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  It was kind of synergistic. Yeah.
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  Driven by what we can call those three pillars of growth. Right.
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  And if one of those pillars had stumbled, the results would probably look quite
• 3:46
  different. Okay, let's break them down. Pillar one.
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  This is the one that's had a lot of anticipation around it. The Hong Kong, a pension business.
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  The numbers show the overall Hong Kong segment. So that includes the core wealth
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  stuff plus a pension posted profit before tax PBT of S19.39 million dollars
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  in Q3. That's up 46.4% year on year.
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  Yeah, and this is a really significant structural driver. The pension division,
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  it's not just about the revenue it's bringing in right now.
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  It's about locking in these massive long-term operational contracts. Right, the mandates.
• 4:19
  Exactly. They're building up their capacity to handle the eventual onboarding
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  of these bigger trustees.
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  For listeners, you need to understand these are very sticky,
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  high-volume contracts. They provide stable, predictable fee income for potentially decades.
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  It fundamentally changes the
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  risk profile of their whole Hong Kong operation. Okay, that makes sense.
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  Pillar two, then. The core wealth management platform itself,
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  its underlying strength.
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  We know AUA grew globally, but where did the real operational energy come from within the platform?
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  Well, the momentum's definitely impressive. Even some of the,
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  let's say, emerging markets for them. China, for instance, posted phenomenal
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  year-on-year AUA growth, 61.7%. 61%, wow.
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  But, you know, we have to contextualize that. China's starting from a lower
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  base. The real engine room is still Singapore. Still the core.
• 5:07
  Absolutely. Despite being a mature market, Singapore posted really strong AUA
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  growth, 28.7% year-on-year.
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  It's still the main contributor to the group's total AUA.
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  And drilling down into Singapore, the reports mention the B2B division being
• 5:20
  particularly strong. What signs tell us that B2B strategy is working?
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  Well, a couple of things. The Singapore B2B division hit record AUA up 25.8% year on year.
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  But crucially, you also see growth in things like regular savings plans, RSPs.
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  Ah, the recurring contributions. Exactly. Typically higher margin,
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  very sticky client behavior.
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  RSPs hit a new record high too, up 24.4% year on year. And beyond that,
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  the B2B division's non-interest revenue growth, basically.
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  The fee income was really robust. Up 47.9% year-on-year in Q3,
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  bolstered in part by that e-pension activity starting to filter through.
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  Okay, strong core performance, which brings us to pillar three.
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  And this, I think, for many observers, was maybe the biggest question mark.
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  The IFAS Global Bank in the UK, the turnaround there, that bank has now posted
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  four straight quarters of profit starting back in Q4 2024.
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  It's a massive validation of their strategy, isn't it? This is perhaps the most
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  impressive structural shift of the lot. In the first nine months of 2025,
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  the UK bank delivered S2.01 million dollars in net profit. Okay.
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  Now, compare that to the S4.67 million dollar loss in the same period of 2024.
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  That's quite a swing. It's a complete reversal. Puts the bank squarely on track
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  for its first full year profitability since they acquired it.
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  How did they manage that?
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  Was it just cutting costs or did the revenue structure genuinely change?
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  It looks like a successful strategic pivot.
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  They really focused on net interest revenue by aggressively growing customer
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  deposits. Ah, the deposit base. Exactly.
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  Deposits surged 92.7% year-on-year, reached $1.55 billion.
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  This large, stable deposit base is what underpins net interest income.
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  And what's fascinating here is that in Q3 2025, for the first time,
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  net interest revenue actually exceeded their non-interest income,
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  like commissions and fees. Okay, that is significant.
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  It signals a shift towards a healthier, more sustainable banking model,
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  and driven by core deposit growth, not just volatile transaction fees.
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  That definitely makes the bank's future profit seem more predictable.
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  I did notice a small note, though. The bank's Q3 profit was slightly down compared
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  to Q2. What was behind that minor dip? Ah, yes. Good catch.
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  That specific short-term quarter-on-quarter dip was driven by a slight easing
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  in that non-interest commission and fee income.
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  Specifically, the average revenue per transaction in their Ezra Mint division moderated a bit.
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  But really, it's minor when you look at the bigger picture, the structural shift
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  towards deposit-driven profit we just discussed. That's the main story. Got it.
• 7:51
  So that's a deep dive into the why. Let's shift gears slightly to financial
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  health, because for long-term investors, platform efficiency and the quality
• 8:00
  of the revenue matter just as much, maybe more than raw profit,
• 8:04
  right? Absolutely. Sustainability is key.
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  What do these reports tell us about that, the quality of the revenue stream?
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  Well, the figure that really jumps out, I think, is 89.8%. Almost 90% of what?
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  Almost 90% of the group's non-banking net revenue in the first nine months came
• 8:19
  from recurring net revenue. Okay, recurring. That's the gold standard for platform models.
• 8:24
  Exactly. That's why these models are valued so highly. It confirms the reliability
• 8:28
  of their fee-based AUA model.
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  Income that's predictable, stable, not dependent on crazy trading volumes or one-off deals.
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  And that stability should feed into efficiency metrics, right?
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  I saw their return on equity ROE. Yes.
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  The annualized ROE for the nine months hit a record high since they listed back in 2014.
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  Came in at 26.1%. 26% ROE. That's very strong.
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  It is. A high ROE like that, it signals really exceptional capital management.
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  It shows the company is highly efficient at using shareholder money to generate profit. Which means?
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  Which means they can fund their own growth strategies without constantly needing
• 9:07
  external cash, while also delivering strong returns to shareholders.
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  It's a virtuous cycle. And speaking of funding growth, the balance sheet looks
• 9:14
  pretty solid too, especially with that conservative approach at the UK bank. Definitely.
• 9:18
  They have plenty of cash and liquid assets. Cash and cash equivalents stood
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  at $772.43 million at the end of Q3. So well capitalized.
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  Very well capitalized. Gives them a solid foundation to keep investing in tech,
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  maybe look at strategic acquisitions.
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  All the things they need to do to chase that big AUA target.
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  Okay, let's move to that final segment then.
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  Outlook and strategic trajectory. With this kind of performance behind them,
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  what's management saying about the rest of FY 2025?
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  And what's the longer game here?
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  Well, management sounds clearly optimistic, as you'd expect.
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  They're guiding for the full year 2025 to show robust growth rates in both revenues
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  and profitability compared to 2024.
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  Driven by those same three pillars. They're precisely driven by the continued
• 10:03
  scaling of Hong Kong a pension, that global momentum in the core wealth platform
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  and achieving full year profitability at the UK bank. They see those trends continuing.
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  And they're sharing the success with shareholders, too, it seems.
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  Talk about the dividend guidance.
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  Yeah, the directors are anticipating proposing a total dividend of 8.20 cents
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  per share or possibly higher for FY 2025.
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  Which is a big jump from last year, isn't it? It is. That would be at least
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  a 39.0% increase year on year from the 5.90 cents per share they paid in FY 2024.
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  It's a pretty tangible sign of confidence in sustained accelerating profits.
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  OK, so the near term looks solid, but the long term vision is where it gets really interesting.
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  That idea of a seamlessly connected global ecosystem.
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  That's the ultimate goal. Yeah, that's their key differentiator or what they want it to be.
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  The ambition is building a platform where customers can, as they put it,
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  invest globally and profitably, save effortlessly, and spend conveniently.
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  Sounds good, but how? Well, it requires really tight integration between wealth
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  management and banking.
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  And that's where this strategy they call the iFast Bridge comes into play.
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  Okay, tell us more about the bridge. It sounds like more than just payments.
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  It's like the operational glue. It really is the glue.
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  The iFastBridge strategy aims to create instant, basically cost-free connectivity
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  between their banking platform and their investment platform.
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  Instant and free. That's the idea.
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  Think about it. Money flows immediately between your deposit accounts and your
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  investment portfolio globally. It dramatically lowers the friction for clients.
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  So easier to move money means more money stays within their system. Exactly.
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  Invest new savings instantly. Consolidate all your financial activity.
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  Makes the platform stickier.
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  And these frictionless payments, like getting that e-money issuer approval in
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  principle in Malaysia, they see these as vital steps for driving AUA accumulation.
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  Lower friction, stickier platform, more AUA. And all this integration,
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  all these pillars, they're aiming at that one huge, widely cited target. Yep, the big one.
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  The stated goal is still hitting S-100 billion dollars in assets under administration.
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  Target timeline, 2028 to 2030. 100 billion dollars.
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  And look, hitting S-1 past 30.62 billion dollars now in Q3 2025.
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  Powered by this diversified growth and the bank turning profitable.
• 12:19
  It certainly confirms they're executing on the kind of strategy needed to make
• 12:23
  a run at that massive target within the time frame.
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  All right, that brings us towards the end of this deep dive.
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  So for everyone listening, the key takeaways seem pretty clear.
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  This record quarter wasn't luck. It was driven by successful simultaneous execution
• 12:35
  across those three key areas.
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  Hong Kong at pensions scaling up, the core wealth platform growing robustly
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  and predictably, and that big structural turnaround of the UK digital bank.
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  And what's really fascinating, I think, is the synergy you see emerging.
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  You've got this record high ROE.
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  You've got clear operational success integrating banking and wealth through
• 12:57
  things like IFAS Bridge.
• 12:59
  So the question becomes, how much more will strategically building out that
• 13:04
  global digital payment ecosystem accelerate their path towards that $700 billion AUA target?
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  Being able to offer instant global low-cost money movement, that's often the
• 13:15
  final piece of the puzzle for dominating cross-border wealth.
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  Definitely the next frontier to watch for them. A really compelling question
• 13:21
  to think about. Thanks for joining us for the deep dive. We'll catch you next
• 13:24
  time. We'll catch you next time.