Finance

Standard Chartered Partnered with Franklin Templeton to Launch Autumn, a Wealth, Health and Lifestyle Consumer Platform

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SC Ventures, the innovation and ventures unit of Standard Chartered, and Franklin Templeton, one of the world’s largest independent asset managers, have entered into a partnership to launch Autumn, a first-in-market wealth, health and lifestyle solution platform in Singapore. Plans are underway to roll this open platform out progressively in Hong Kong and other markets in Asia.

An independent digital platform incubated in and backed by SC Ventures, Autumn empowers consumers interested in achieving their financial goals to plan and manage their financial and physical wellbeing by providing best-in-class tools, products, and services across all aspects of wealth, health and lifestyle. Autumn prepares users to be future fit in finance, health and wellness, regardless of their life stage.

According to a United Nations study*, 15 per cent of Asia’s population will be over the age of 65 by 2040. Autumn is focused on supporting the needs of this growing ageing population, who are searching for a bundled offering to address all their needs in a holistic and personalised manner.

Autumn’s mobile application helps users to achieve financial clarity by combining their banking, investment, insurance and healthcare data into a single dashboard. Users can plan for their financial future using personalised aspirations and goals, scenario analyses and portfolio stress testing before executing their customised plan by transacting across multiple product providers and asset classes.

With this strategic partnership, Franklin Templeton will be an asset management partner of Autumn. The Autumn platform will provide users with access to curated financial literacy content from the Franklin Templeton Academy and investment insights from Franklin Templeton’s Investment Institute, harnessing the firm’s global investment expertise and extensive in-house research capabilities. Autumn users may choose to receive insights on their model portfolio based on their risk profile and their financial data. The implementation of the Franklin Templeton Academy and investment insights will take place in the coming months.

In addition to managing their financial wellbeing, Autumn will at the next phase provide insights into how a user’s lifestyle choices will likely impact their retirement plans by using data from third-party wearable and health applications. This will enable them to take proactive action to stay healthy, avoid unnecessary healthcare cost and optimise their insurance coverage. To enhance their general wellbeing, Autumn will also be bringing lifestyle partners onboard, including travel services and volunteering opportunities.

Mike Kruger, Chief Executive Officer of Autumn, said: “Everyone wants to live well, and Autumn helps users plan for a future that makes this possible. We’re delighted to be working with Franklin Templeton and Standard Chartered to create a truly customer-centric, holistic and affordable solution for all. By combining digital wealth technology with health, lifestyle and financial wellness, we’ll help users adopt healthier habits and create a retirement that is personalised for them.”

Alex Manson of SC Ventures said: “Autumn addresses one of the greatest societal challenges of our time and which is dear to my heart: getting older, which is unfortunately inevitable. All of us want to grow older in a good way, with a healthy lifestyle, planning the form of retirement that is specifically the one we truly aspire to and giving ourselves the means to achieve it, as opposed to procrastinating about the issue. This won’t be achieved by pushing products – it requires trust in a community of like-minded people, and importantly, the integrity of data-driven decisions. This is what Autumn is all about.”

Harshendu Bindal, Head of Digital Strategy and Wealth Management, Franklin Templeton, said: “We are delighted to partner with Autumn and SC Ventures in launching an innovative digital platform for investors’ wealth, health and lifestyle needs. As an asset management partner of Autumn, our best-in-class investment model portfolios and educational content will be made available to Autumn’s customers as they make informed investment decisions related to life events, retirement, as well as their general and financial well-being”.

Autumn is available to the public on both the iOS and Android app stores and will be available via distribution partners for premium services in the future.

*United Nations 2017 World Ageing Population Report

Franklin Templeton

Franklin Templeton is a global investment management organization with subsidiaries operating as Franklin Templeton and serving clients in over 165 countries. Franklin Templeton’s mission is to help clients achieve better outcomes through investment management expertise, wealth management and technology solutions. Through its specialist investment managers, the company brings extensive capabilities in equity, fixed income, alternatives multi-asset solutions and alternatives. With offices in more than 30 countries and 1,300 investment professionals, the California-based company has over 70 years of investment experience and approximately US$1.5 trillion in assets under management as of April 30, 2021.

The Franklin Templeton Academy helps investors make sense of various investment concepts, from the basic essentials to more advanced insights through courses and workshops for application in the real world.

The Franklin Templeton Investment Institute mission is to drive collaboration, both inside and outside of the investment organization, to provide a forum for investment insights and their practical application. The institute is organised around a series of think tanks and academic partnerships to provide investors with distinct insights and opinions.

For more information, please visit franklinresources.com

Autumn Life Pte Ltd

Autumn Life Pte Ltd is a Fintech founded in Singapore, offering an integrated wealth, health and lifestyle digital solution. Headquartered in Singapore and backed by SC Ventures, Autumn is an independent and bank agnostic platform offering customers the best-in-class products in the marketplace. Autumn’s vision is to make a healthy, wealthy and meaningful retirement accessible to more people. We harness the power of technology to integrate wellness with wealth management through digital solutions, making it easier for everyone to achieve their life goals.