SINGAPORE – Shares of Singapore-listed iFast rallied on Feb 22 after the fintech platform posted a 917 per cent surge in fourth-quarter net profit to $13.2 million and a 340 per cent rise in full-year earnings to $28.3 million.

The stock surged 49 cents, or 6.2 per cent, as at the midday trading break, its highest level in more than two years. Some 2.64 million shares changed hands, about four times the counter’s average daily volume of 613,433.

In its results filing on Feb 21, iFast said its profitability increased owing to contributions from its Hong Kong ePension division, and improvements in the group’s core wealth management platform business.

Earnings per share jumped to 4.46 cents for the fourth quarter of 2023, from 0.44 cents a year earlier. Total revenue for the fourth quarter grew 69.3 per cent to $82.2 million.

As at Dec 31, the company’s assets under administration grew 13.8 per cent to $19.83 billion, up from the $17.42 billion posted a year earlier.

A final dividend of 1.4 cents per share was proposed, unchanged from the year before. This brings full-year dividends to 4.8 cents, also unchanged from the previous year. The dividend will be paid on May 21, subject to shareholders’ approval at the group’s annual general meeting on April 26.

Established as an online unit trust platform in the 2000s, iFast is now a global digital banking and wealth management group.

The company acquired a fully licensed British bank in 2022 and renamed it iFast Global Bank, which has been making progress in enhancing its digital banking capabilities. In January 2024, it secured in-principle approval from the Securities Commission Malaysia to operate a bond marketplace through its subsidiary Bondsupermart Malaysia.

In June 2023, iFast’s Hong Kong-based subsidiary launched a digital pensions solution that will allow users to perform functions such as enrolment, termination, contribution and withdrawal for their pension schemes through an online platform or a mobile app.

Chief executive Lim Chung Chun told The Straits Times that the company is expecting robust growth in revenue and profitability in 2024 compared with 2023, despite global macroeconomic and geopolitical challenges.

He added: “Our ePension division in HK will be an important growth driver in 2024 and 2025, even as our wealth management business continues to show healthy progress. We expect our newer iFast Global Bank to become an important growth driver for the group in 2025 and beyond.”

iFast ranks among the 40 most-traded stocks by turnover on the Singapore Exchange in 2024.

Shares of iFast closed at $8.34 on Feb 22, up from the previous close of $7.93.