Branching out: Digital brokerages in Singapore expanding offline, legacy firms hitting heartland

Eng Thiam Choon (left), executive director of uSMART, and Louis Koay, a senior financial services director at Phillip Securities, at physical branches of their firms.

SINGAPORE – Amid the digital push, some online brokerages and financial services firms are bucking the trend.

Fintech players such as uSMART, Moomoo and Longbridge have scaled up their physical footprints to forge deeper ties with clients and build trust.

uSMART was the first fintech player to break the mould by opening a physical outlet in Robinson Road in July 2025, followed by a second outlet near Somerset MRT station three months later, in October 2025.

Eng Thiam Choon, the firm’s executive director, said uSMART saw physical branches as a way to differentiate itself in a crowded online space.

“Clients ask us, ‘Where are your branches? Can we visit you to ask something?’ In Singapore, we are still very cautious when it comes to finance-related issues,” Eng said.

When a customer walks in and talks to a staff member, there is “two-way communication and sharing”, instead of just a cold exchange of information online, he said. This open sharing makes the whole investment journey much more comfortable.

Eng added that having a physical branch gives people the confidence that the brokerage will not “suddenly disappear”.

Riding on the success of these two physical outlets, uSMART will open two more branches – in Bugis and Chinatown – by the end of 2026.

The uSMART Bugis outlet in Liang Seah Street is slated to open on Nov 13. Across the road is Moomoo's largest physical outlet in South-east Asia.

The Somerset branch, together with the upcoming Bugis outlet, will cater to the young demographic and the after-office shopping crowd.

Meanwhile, the branch in the Raffles Place area serves the office crowd, while the upcoming Chinatown outlet will focus on the seniors who hang out around the area. “Both Bugis and Chinatown have good footfall and traffic,” Eng noted.