People in Singapore are now trusting robots more than others or even themselves to manage their finances, according to a new study by Oracle.
Findings are based on a survey conducted by Savanta between November 10 and December 8, 2020 with 9,001 global respondents from 14 countries including 500 consumers and business leaders in Singapore.
Singaporean business leaders saw financial anxiety and stress increase by 157% while sadness grew by 200%. Among consumers, financial anxiety and stress and sadness jumped 118%.
Among business leaders, 97% is worried about the impact of COVID-19 on their organisation, with the most common concerns being a slow economic recovery or recession (61%), budget cuts (43%), and bankruptcy (25%).
Among consumers, 97% of consumers in Singapore are experiencing financial fears, including job loss (53%), losing savings (52%), and never getting out of debt (25%).
In Singapore, 53% of consumers reported losing sleep due to their personal finances – the highest among APAC countries following India (59%).
To help navigate financial complexity, consumers and business leaders increasingly trust technology over people to help, with 76% of Singapore consumers and business leaders trusting a robot more than a human to manage finances.
Four in every five (80%) business leaders in Singapore trust a robot more than themselves to manage finances, and 83% trust robots over their own finance teams.
Three in every five (61%) of consumers in Singapore trust a robot more than themselves to manage finances, and almost three-quarters (72%) trust robots over personal financial advisors.
Consumers in Singapore believe that robots can be helpful in detecting fraud (36%), helping to reduce spending (23%), but least in making stock market investments (17%).
More than half (55%) of Singapore business leaders believe robots will replace corporate finance professionals in the next five years.
Nearly half (47%) of consumers in Singapore believe robots will replace personal financial advisors in the next five years.
Three in every four (76) consumers want robots to help them manage their finances so they can free up time (40%), reduce unnecessary spending (32%), and increase on-time payments (30%).
However, consumers in Singapore still trust personal financial advisors to provide guidance on major purchasing decisions such as buying a house (41%), buying a car (32%), and planning a vacation (31%).
“Now with digital banks increasingly dominating the space, embracing technologies such as AI has become more important for financial service providers to cultivate innovation across functions,” said Adrian Johnston, Oracles’ head of apps in Japan and Asia Pacific.
