Singapore fintech MoneyHero lays off 80 staff to cut costs
The move is “strictly” about enhancing long-term financial health, said its chief executive
MONEYHERO Group, which runs platforms such as Seedly and SingSaver in Singapore, has laid off 80 employees in a move to cut costs, The Business Times has learned.
The company says on its website that it has over 300 employees in offices across five markets, including Singapore. It has yet to reply to BT’s queries as to where the affected employees are located.
In an e-mail to staff on Wednesday (Jul 24) evening, chief executive Rohith Murthy said that the decision to reduce the size of the “enterprise-wide team” was “unfortunate but necessary”.
“These layoffs are strictly about enhancing MoneyHero’s long-term financial health and profitability. There are no larger issues at play here,” he said in the e-mail, seen by The Business Times.
He added that the company remains in growth mode with “a strong leadership team, dominant market share, a proven strategy, strong cash position and powerful access to capital that no other peer can match”.
“This is simply a required business action taken to address inefficiencies and safeguard our future,” he said.
Nasdaq-listed MoneyHero operates online personal-finance platforms that recommend financial products in Singapore, Hong Kong, the Philippines and Taiwan.
An October 2023 report in The Straits Times said the group employed 349 staff across five markets, 99 of them in Singapore.
Murthy, who took on the chief executive role in February, said strategic realignment was one reason for the cuts.
“Our next chapter of growth demands stronger platform efficiencies and more investments in technology, including artificial intelligence and automation,” he said.
MoneyHero must “reduce redundancy, enhance performance and remove unnecessary layers” to operate more nimbly and effectively, he added.
Murthy said affected employees were not chosen based on performance.
MoneyHero will support laid-off employees with a “comprehensive” package of either immediate garden leave or an ex-gratia payment for a transition period, he said.
Affected employees will also be provided insurance coverage through December 2024, professional and mental health counselling, outplacement support, letters of recommendation from senior MoneyHero leaders, and a laptop computer.
MoneyHero listed on Nasdaq in October 2023 after merging with Bridgetown Holdings, a special-purpose acquisition company backed by PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel’s venture firm and Hong Kong tycoon Richard Li’s Pacific Century Group.
However, it has faced weak investor sentiment. Its share price has fallen about 52 per cent from its debut, closing at US$1.62 on Tuesday.
The company traces its roots back to CompareAsia Group, a fintech startup founded in Singapore in 2014, which subsequently rebranded itself as Hyphen Group. MoneyHero conducted two rounds of layoffs in 2022 to bring down costs, according to media reports.
