Half a century of building financial ecosystems and trust

Straits Times

2 days ago

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PhillipCapital looks to its next 50 years with clients, digital innovation and global connectivity at the heart of its strategy
The key management team of PhillipCapital Group including Phillip Securities Managing Director Luke Lim (4th from right), posing for a photo with Lim Hua Min (4th from left) and Gillian Tan (centre), Assistant Managing Director (Development and International) & Chief Sustainability Officer of Monetary Authority of Singapore, during PhillipCapital's 50th Anniversary Appreciation Gala at the Fullerton Hotel on April 23, 2025.
WHEN Lim Hua Min executed his first trade in 1975, Singapore's fledgling stock market still operated with paper tickets amid the trading floor's cacophony of shouts and gestures.
Lim Hua Min, executive chairman of PhillipCapital, on the trading floor in 1975 – the year he founded Phillip Securities.
Fast forward five decades, and his modest brokerage has transformed into PhillipCapital Group – a diversified financial services group managing over US$65 billion in assets for over 1.5 million clients across 15 markets – a journey that mirrors Singapore's own transformation into a global financial hub.
That unassuming team of 20, once housed at Phillip Street's Grand Building, is today a financial house with more than 5,000 employees worldwide. Group shareholders' equity now exceeds US$2.5 billion.
An unblemished record of profitability over its 50-year history – not a single year of losses – testifies that PhillipCapital has not merely weathered multiple economic storms, it has thrived through them.
When the Pan-Electric crisis of 1985 decimated the stockbroking industry – it was one of just three local brokerages left standing. The Asian financial crisis of 1997 and the 2008 global financial meltdown similarly did not break its growth trajectory.
Now, at 79, Lim is unfazed by the heightened geopolitical uncertainty of today. 'The Chinese phrase for crisis is accurate. Where there's a crisis, there's also opportunity,' the executive chairman of PhillipCapital Group says. His is a confidence undergirded by hard-won experience. After all, each market crisis has kindled fresh growth for his business.
In the wake of the Pan-Electric collapse, the firm captured 20 per cent market share and attracted good remisiers whose firms had failed. When the Asian financial crisis hit, strategic acquisitions granted the firm critical inroads into Thailand's market, previously impenetrable due to strict foreign ownership conditions.
'There's tremendous opportunity in crisis, not that you wish for it,' Lim says. 'But you know that when it comes to economic cycles, it's better to expand in the worst of times rather than the best of times.'
'There's tremendous opportunity in crisis, not that you wish for it. But you know that when it comes to economic cycles, it's better to expand in the worst of times rather than the best of times,' says Lim Hua Min, PhillipCapital founder and executive chairman.
In the past year, the group has closed several deals overseas including in Thailand and Australia. It continues to cast its nets wide. 'I've told my people; we are on the lookout. There are many firms that are not able to adjust to the zero-commission environment. This will create a shakeout in this industry, and this shakeout becomes an opportunity,' says Lim.
The numbers speak for themselves – client assets under management have swelled from over US$35 billion in 2020 to more than US$65 billion today.
Beyond broking, democratising access to capital
Strategic diversification has transformed PhillipCapital's revenue streams over the decades. While stockbroking once generated 90 per cent of group revenue, it now accounts for just 30 per cent, with the growth of newer segments such as fund management, wealth advisory, and real estate consultancy.
Regional expansion led it to lay roots down across the South-east Asian markets of Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia and Vietnam, as well as China, India and Japan. But it has moved beyond Asia too, with offices in Australia, UK, US, UAE and Turkey.
'We started as a broking firm, so we entered many countries using that as an initial thrust,' says Lim. 'But from there, we tend to build ecosystems, rather than just stockbroking. We believe in the integration of the industry.'
He sees PhillipCapital's evolution through dual lenses: horizontal growth – geographic expansion, and vertical development – the broadening of products, services, and business lines.
'Our role is to participate in the growth and creation of capital,' Lim states – the reason the privately held group rebranded as PhillipCapital, while retaining the Phillip Securities name for its brokerage and wealth advisory arm.
The nature of capital itself is something that 'keeps him awake at night', Lim told guests at the group's 50th anniversary celebration in April. Specifically, whether his business promotes access to capital and its potential to improve lives.
This philosophy also explains the company's venture into the asset class of real estate through its Agility Group of companies, which offers everything from Reit management to property management, valuation to consultancy.
'If it's just a building, only a few tycoons can buy it,' Lim explains. 'But divide it into smaller shares, millions can buy a part of it. So, it's all back to the attributes of capital, isn't it? Making assets definitive, measurable, divisible, transferable, registrable, and fungible.'
Constant innovation
It's hard to imagine a time without mobile trading platforms, but back in 1996, Phillip Securities was ahead of the game with its launch of POEMS (Phillip's Online Electronic Mart system). It was the first online trading platform for retail investors in Singapore.
'This spirit of innovation has carried through to our present-day initiatives,' says Luke Lim, the founder's son and managing director of Phillip Securities. 'We now embrace innovative technologies like artificial intelligence, machine learning, and blockchain to enhance customer experience and optimise operational efficiencies.'
A recent result of this is the launch in April of POEMS GPT, an AI chat companion that swiftly mines vast financial datasets for relevant insights that might aid clients in investment decisions.
The group's innovative bent has also produced novel offerings such as its launch of digital wine tokens in 2022, which enables accredited investors to invest in rare wines without fussing over negotiations, storage, and documentation. The asset-backed securities trade on Alta, a private blockchain-powered securities exchange licensed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).
It is now also working to tokenise and commercialise money market funds, as part of the MAS' Project Guardian initiative. 'This would open up new use cases for this asset class,' says the younger Lim.
'As digital banking continues to evolve, staying relevant is not just adopting technology, but integrating it into every facet of our business to deliver value,' says Luke.
'We focus on enhancing accessibility, improving client outcomes, and ensuring robust security in an increasingly connected but fragmented world,' he adds.
While the group now serves high net worth individuals, family offices, corporates, and institutions, it has not departed from its original mission of providing the average 'man on the street' with access to capital.
It is why financial literacy and investor education has been, and continues to be, a pillar of the group's offerings. In an age of robo-advisers, it holds to its 'high touch, high tech' approach with 14 investor centres intentionally located for convenience and in neighbourhoods across Singapore. These offer regular investment and other seminars and face-to-face consultations.
'Our strongest competition today arises from both traditional financial institutions and disruptive fintech startups,' acknowledges Luke. Large players have the advantage of scale, while fintech firms excel in user experience and agility.
This underlines the need for constant reinvention. 'Investing will always be there, but stockbrokers may not. Insurance will always be there, but insurance companies may not. Banking will always be there, but banks may not,' the elder Lim quips.
For now, Luke believes PhillipCapital has found a 'sweet spot of creating our own flywheel with the customer at the centre'.
Having POEMS as its own fintech arm provides digital scale and affordability. Its comprehensive range of financial services makes it a one-stop shop for the retail investor's needs, from protection to trading to wealth management. And the personal touch of dedicated financial advisers and remisiers builds relationships, he says.
Globally, the group sees much potential in embedding itself deeply in emerging markets, particularly in India and across South-east Asia, where financial literacy and technology adoption are surging.
'We see great opportunity in advancing our digital products and expanding into underserved markets,' Luke says.
Growing timber, building pillars
A key plank of its long-term strategy has been thoughtful succession planning. 'We grow our own timber. We don't take from outside,' states the elder Lim.
'Succession should be from within. It's only a failure of top management to plan for the future, to always have to get somebody new from outside.'
He sees this as an outworking of core values. 'A core value for us is that we see that every man, created in God's image, has tremendous potential,' Lim says. 'It behoves our company to avail opportunities in training, service, and responsibilities. We view retrenchment as management failure rather than cost-cutting to serve shareholders' interests,' he says.
And he has confidence in his core management team – each of the five having worked alongside him for more than a decade.
Indeed, Luke sees the group's next 50 years being built on three pillars that have supported its journey so far – customer-centricity, innovation, and global connectivity.
'Putting our clients first is the foundation of the future we're building,' he says. 'It compels us to use advanced analytics to anticipate needs and foster a culture of client focus at every level of our organisation.'
The innovation pillar, meanwhile, will expand PhillipCapital's digital ecosystem, with AI-driven advisory platforms and data-driven decision-making tools. 'We aim to remain a forerunner in financial services by continually investing in technology and fintech partnerships,' says Luke.
The final pillar extends the group's diversification strategy, with plans to expand its presence beyond the current 15 global locations to serve new markets and a more diverse client base.
Singapore and the world's financial landscape may have changed dramatically since 1975, but PhillipCapital's fundamental mission has not. Luke says, 'It is to stay true to our roots as a trusted financial partner, while embracing the opportunities of a rapidly changing world.'