Jury's still out on investing with robo-advisers

AS financial markets continued their upward trajectory in May - the MSCI AC World Index rose 0.7 per cent while global bonds gained 1.7 per cent on the back of falling yield - the portfolio delivered a 1.1 per cent return over the month. The simple benchmark of 70 per cent global equities and 30 per cent global bonds rose by one per cent in May.

Portfolio performance was driven by our holdings in Aberdeen Japan Equity fund and Schroder Asian Growth fund which returned 5.3 per cent and 4.1 per cent respectively. The biggest detractor was our exposure to Latin America as political turmoil sent the JPM Latin America Equity fund down by 3.5 per cent over the month. US equity also dragged on overall returns as both funds fell by 1.7 per cent respectively. Our fixed income exposure was broadly stable with only Allianz Flexi Asia Bond fund and the United Emerging Markets Bond fund seeing negative returns. (Returns are in Singapore dollar terms, except for global bonds which are in US dollars.)

This month, with the Monetary Authority of Singapore proposing new guidelines for digital advisers, we take a deeper look into robo-advisers and their offerings.