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Pluang expands to the Philippines, offers access to fractional US stocks
Indonesian investment platform Pluang became the first to expand to the Philippines and to offer access to United States regulated fractional stocks.
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Investment app Pluang offers gold, money market and cryptocurrency investment features. (Courtesy of Pluang/-)
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ndonesian investment platform Pluang became the first to expand to the Philippines and offer access to United States regulated fractional stocks for most retail investors.
The expansion is implemented through the Strategic Sandbox (Stratbox) program under the PhiliFintech Innovation Office (PhiliFINNO) from the Philippines Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), making Pluang the first fintech platform allowed to test the model to provide access to US fractional stocks, which was not available to most Philippine retail investors previously, Pluang said in a media statement.
The trial program allows Philippine investors to invest in US stocks with as little as 100 pesos (US$1.79) in capital and provides exposure to 30 large companies listed in the US market, such as Amazon, Apple, Meta, NVIDIA, Tesla and many others.
Stocks can be purchased when the US market is open and investors conduct the transactions in US dollars. Investors can make deposits to the platform easily using Philippine pesos.
The product was designed to provide ease and accessibility, paving the way for the public to invest in the global market through a local platform with guaranteed regulations. The program opens the way for Philippine people who had limited access to traditional investment channels to start building generational wealth.
“As the US stock market has just reached its highest record, coupled with the artificial intelligence revolution which has changed the global economic landscape, the Philippine public can directly access investment opportunities in the world’s most transformative sectors, such as AI, green energy, biotechnology and others,” said Pluang cofounder Richard Chua said in the statement.
“For the first time, they can build wealth from opportunities that could only be dreamt of by previous generations.”
Pluang submitted the proposal to enter the trial period in 2024. During the trial phase, access to the product is limited to1,000 customers with a limited transaction volume, as recommended by the SEC to ensure rigorous monitoring, operational readiness and regulation control. The know your customer (KYC) and antimony laundering (AML) processes were also implemented.
“We welcome innovations which can improve financial service, widen access and in the end, contribute to national economic growth,” SEC chairman Emilio Benito Aquino said on June 2.
“Our commitment is to create an environment where responsible innovations can grow, ensuring benefits from new technologies can be enjoyed by all Filipinos.”
