Ovo launches instant-redemption mutual fund offering through Manulife tie-up

Indonesia’s Ovo announced it has partnered with financial services company Manulife Aset Manajemen Indonesia and strategic partner Bareksa to roll out an instant-redemption mutual fund offering. It claims that this offering is a first in the country.

The Ovo app / Photo credit: Ovo

Called Manulife Ovo Bareksa Likuid (MOBLI), the product is offered on Ovo’s mobile app under its Ovo Invest section. Users can start investing and earning interest with MOBLI with as low as 10,000 rupiah (US$0.7), the company said in a statement.

Ovo said the launch is part of the company’s efforts to accelerate financial inclusion for Indonesia’s 140 million unbanked and underbanked citizens. Its CEO Jason Thompson added that MOBLI takes the company a step closer to its “evolution to become a financial services provider.”

Citing data from the country’s Financial Services Authority, Ovo noted that only 1.7% of Indonesia’s population participated in the capital market. Factors that played into the low count include lack of access to investment opportunities, high capital entry requirements, payment problems, and liquidity.

“The Ovo Invest offerings are specifically designed to address these pain points,” explained Rajiv Chandna, Ovo’s chief commercial officer for financial services.

The company shared that instant redemption has been a key driver in the increasing retail investment penetration in China, something it hopes to imitate in Indonesia.

See Also: Will Ovo complicate a Gojek-Tokopedia merger?

Established in 2017, Ovo is one of the archipelago’s digital payment and financial services majors. It claims to have been installed in 115 million devices and accepted in over 426 cities in Indonesia.

The company, which is a payments partner of Grab, acquired Bareksa in 2019 in a reported US$20 million deal, extending its reach into Indonesia’s mutual fund market.