Shares of iFAST Corporation (SGX: AIY) plunged unexpectedly on 19 August, falling by as much as 11% at the opening bell.
This decline was the largest for the fintech since April this year, and its shares ended down 8.5% at S$8.94, giving it a market capitalisation of S$2.7 billion.
Year-to-date (YTD), shares of iFAST are still up 20%, though this was down from its previous 31.5% gain when shares were hovering close to their 52-week high of S$9.83.
Should investors be concerned, and can iFAST witness a rebound any time soon?
A major shareholder pares its stake
In response to a query from the Singapore Exchange (SGX: S68), iFAST quoted a Bloomberg article which reported that a substantial shareholder, CP Invest, had placed 14.35 million shares of iFAST.
CP Invest is a subsidiary of Cuscaden Peak, which is jointly owned by Mapletree Fortress Pte Ltd, a unit of Mapletree Investments Pte Ltd (MIPL), along with Adenium Pte Ltd, a subsidiary of CLA Real Estate Holdings.
In turn, MIPL is owned by Temasek Holdings, thus making CP Invest an indirect subsidiary of the investment firm.
These shares were transacted for S$9.12 per share, which represented a 6.7% discount to the 18 August closing price of S$9.77.
With this sale, CP Invest’s stake in iFAST falls from 9.62% to 4.9%, and CP Invest will thus cease to be a substantial shareholder in iFAST.
Corporate moves
Major shareholders do reduce their stakes in listed companies from time to time as part of portfolio rebalancing or capital recycling.
While this stake sale involves a large chunk of iFAST’s shares, the move itself does not point to any inherent problem with the business.
Such entities may periodically wish to realise the value of their investments, especially since the share price of iFAST has run up significantly since the beginning of this year.
It’s more important for investors to assess the quality and prospects of a business than get hung up over a major shareholder paring its stake.
A strong set of earnings
On this front, iFAST does not disappoint.
The group recently reported a stellar set of earnings for the first half of 2025 (1H 2025).
Net revenue rose 23.7% year on year to S$147.8 million, while operating profit climbed 32.7% year on year to S$51.2 million.
iFAST’s net profit surged 34.7% year on year to S$41.1 million.
The strong performance was attributed to the growth of iFAST’s Hong Kong ePension business and yet another quarter of profitability for its digital bank, iFAST Global Bank (iGB).
The group’s assets under administration (AUA) improved by 21.6% year on year to a record high of S$27.2 billion.
This performance was buoyed by net inflows of S$2.2 billion, higher than the net inflow of S$1.5 billion in 1H 2024.
iFAST also declared an interim dividend of S$0.02, 33% higher than the S$0.015 paid out a year ago.
Bright prospects
Aside from historical financials, investors should also get a glimpse of iFAST’s prospects.
Management expects the business to show a healthy improvement in revenue and profitability for 2H 2025 compared with 1H 2025 as onboarding for the ePension business progresses.
The core wealth management business and iGB are also expected to post year-on-year growth.
Barring unforeseen circumstances, iFAST believes that 2025 should see “robust” growth in revenue and profitability compared to 2024.
Over at iGB, the digital bank achieved its third consecutive quarter of profitability, with net interest income continuing to grow in the second quarter of 2025 (2Q 2025) compared with 1Q 2025.
This growth was contributed to by a surge in customer deposits, which more than doubled year on year to S$1.45 billion at the end of June 2025.
Just last week, iFAST also announced that its Malaysian subsidiary has received in-principle approval to operate as an Electronic Money Issuer and to hold a Money Services Business Class A licence.
This move allows the group to expand into regulated payment services that will complement its existing offerings, thus broadening its suite of services to clients.
Get Smart: Higher profits and dividends
Investors should look past the share price plunge and focus on the business behind the stock, instead.
iFAST has communicated its intention to pay out at least S$0.08 in total dividends for 2025, translating to at least a 36% year-on-year increase from 2024’s S$0.059.
This commitment, along with commentary that displays optimism about its future, should provide investors with the confidence that iFAST can continue doing well.
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Disclosure: Royston Yang owns shares of iFAST Corporation and Singapore Exchange Limited.
