Key Takeaways
- Ping Up, a Karachi- and London-based wealth aggregator, aims to increase retail investment in Pakistan’s capital markets.
- The company’s founders, Wajahat Jafri and Syed Affan Aslam, emphasize financial literacy and empowerment through their platform.
- Ping Up’s consumer app acts as a marketplace, not an advisor, allowing users to make their own investment decisions.
Ping Up, a Karachi- and London-based wealth aggregator, is aiming to revolutionize Pakistan’s capital markets by leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) to increase retail investment. Co-founders Wajahat Jafri and Syed Affan Aslam have outlined their vision for the platform, which seeks to bridge the gap between investors and financial products through financial literacy.
Jafri, who spent 14 to 15 years in the banking industry, and Aslam, with a similar background, have identified financial literacy as the cornerstone of their mission. They describe Ping Up as a 'wealth management platform which is bridging a gap between investors and financial products through financial literacy.'
The company’s approach is structured around three pillars: educate, enable, and empower. Jafri explains, 'We wanted to educate them first… and obviously then once they are enabled, the empowerment will be there.'
On the consumer side, Ping Up operates as a marketplace, not an advisor. Aslam clarifies, 'We treat ourselves as a marketplace, not advisors. Although we have the licence to advise, we do not advise… We will educate them about everything, but the decision is going to be theirs.'
To ensure suitability, Ping Up uses an in-app calculator to automatically steer shorter-term investors away from high-risk funds. Aslam elaborates, 'Suitability is handled through an in-app calculator rather than personal recommendation, steering shorter-term investors away from high-risk funds automatically.'
On the revenue side, Aslam states, 'Our main source of revenue is our management fee, which comes from assets under management, alongside a 'front-end load, which is basically a sales transactional commission.' For the B2B side, 'we charge a development and integration fee, and then there is a recurring maintenance fee.'
Jafri emphasizes that the management fee is 'something we charge, but not to the customers. We get it from our product partners. So from the customer’s point of view, it is absolutely free.'
Ping Up’s technology strategy is modeled after BlackRock’s Aladdin platform, which the company hopes will provide a robust infrastructure for their AI-driven initiatives. Aslam explains, 'We trace our technology strategy to an explicit model: BlackRock, which built its Aladdin platform and, in doing so, was able to create a comprehensive suite of tools for managing financial assets.'
We treat ourselves as a marketplace, not advisors.
Syed Affan Aslam, Co-founder, Ping Up
We wanted to educate them first… and obviously then once they are enabled, the empowerment will be there.
Wajahat Jafri, Co-founder, Ping Up
