KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 30): Digital wealth platform Cashku announced a distribution partnership with Kenanga Investors Bhd (KIB) to offer investors selected funds with no sales charge and a minimum investment amount of RM10.
Cashku is operated by Advisonomics Sdn Bhd and licensed by the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC), while KIB is the wealth management arm of Kenanga Investment Bank Bhd (KL:KENANGA).
"Investors can review fund information, open an account, set their investing goals, invest and make additional investments within a single application, with suitability assessed at the point of investment and monitored continuously thereafter."
According to the press release, Cashku rebuilt the advice layer of wealth management around agentic artificial intelligence.
Today, its software not only answers questions but also carries out risk profiling, goal-based portfolio construction, suitability assessment and ongoing portfolio monitoring, under the oversight of licensed human advisers and within the SC's regulatory framework.
"The architecture, for which Cashku received a Digital Innovation Fund (DIGID) award for data-driven advisory under the SC in 2024, is what allows the platform to reach investors at a materially lower cost to serve."
DIGID is a RM30 million co-funding initiative by the SC designed to support technology-driven, innovative projects in the Malaysian capital market.
The press release points out that the partnership arrives as Malaysia's fund management industry reaches record sales, with assets under management (AUM) rising 6.9% to a record RM1.14 trillion in 2025. Unit trust funds formed the largest single category at roughly half of that AUM.
It also mentions that individual participation in the capital market currently stands at 25% locally, and the SC's Capital Market Masterplan finds that around 60% of non-investors are under the age of 40.
"Malaysia's problem has never been the quality of its funds. It has been having access to the advice that helps people use them well. Financial planning has traditionally been reserved for those wealthy enough to pay for it, which is why most households never had a plan at all. Cashku exists to change that, to give Malaysians a plan built around their own goals," said Raevendren Ramachandran, Cashku chief executive officer.
"Digital distribution is a natural extension of the group's own digitalisation agenda. Working with a licensed platform such as Cashku allows us to reach investors who are starting earlier and investing in smaller amounts than traditional channels are built to serve, without compromising the standards of suitability, transparency and governance our clients expect," said KIB CEO and executive director Datuk Ismitz Matthew De Alwis.