EXCLUSIVE – With the launch of PIVOT Technology Solutions, Beijing-based fintech PINTEC is bringing a variation of its well-established Polaris robo-advisory, “real-time wealth management system” to Singapore.

Bank Innovation held an exclusive interview with Yudong Zheng, CEO of the Polaris company, to discuss PINTEC’s strategy for growth in the Southeast Asian region and the company’s goals for serving its growing, now-international consumer base.

PINTEC already boasts a diverse portfolio of services, including digital lending (with its product, Dumiao) and online insurance (with Myfin, which is licensed), to name a few; but, according to Zheng, Pivot is the organization’s first venture outside of China.

In fact, the system underpinning the Pivot robo-advisory service is based on the combination of artificial intelligence and machine-learning technology behind PINTEC’s Chinese robo-advisory unit, called Polaris, which was successfully introduced to the mainland market in June of 2016.

“Polaris is our [first] robo-advisory platform,” and “Pivot is actually an expansion of our Polaris service in China,” he clarified.

This mixture of artificial intelligence and machine learning endows Pivot with a rare ability amongst robo-advisory solutions to tailor portfolio management to an individual, customized basis, rather than a one-size-fits-all approach.

Simply put, many robo-advisors use one, standard system put in place by a single person, and then apply that system to all their customers. With Pivot, artificial intelligence and machine-learning are used to ensure that there is not one individual who “trips the system,” and rather a wealth of higher technology that handles each customer’s portfolio in a manner that befits them.

Zheng further explained that Pivot is also equipped with an authentication function. Any time Pivot recognizes that a customer’s portfolio is operating in way that is “not ideal,” “the customer receives a signal” and is asked to confirm an action regarding their portfolio management.

“We use dynamic asset allocation, compared to static asset allocation,” Zheng explained. That is, Pivot and Polaris recognize that users can make “irrational” decisions in highly stressful situations, that their behavior changes when they are “outside of their comfort level.”

Both systems are designed to help users know and recognize when they are outside of their comfort level and to help bring them back within their comfort zone, which Zheng believes “brings better care to customers.”

Even though Pivot can be run from Beijing, the company expanded believing that it helps bring the company closer to its regional clients. “We want to use Singapore as a base to serve regional clients,” because it “is a recognized international…business center in the region, and we have a very experienced management team in place.”

Specifically, Zheng expresses thanks that “Victor Lye, the CEO of Pivot, has 25 years of experience in the insurance industry,” and that their partner “has operated in 8 countries in the region.”

“We could never have gone into the region without the expertise we found in our team in Southeast Asia,” he said.

Also, Singapore was a natural location for expansion, Zheng says, because “the region is very close to China, both in terms of geography, and in terms of economics.”

PINTEC sees great opportunity in Southeast Asia, in particular, but Zheng believes that the problems Pivot seeks to solve are not limited to the region, but rather common amongst financial professionals worldwide.

“Globally, people are troubled with the problem of how to invest in a smart way, in an efficient way, in a balanced way,” he says, “ and that is a universal demand for financial institutions and professionals.”

Expansion, however, is a “step-by-step” process.

“We would like to see how the venture does in Southeast Asia,” he clarified.  “If we find another part of the world that could benefit from this technology, then we would not be opposed to bringing it there, as well.”