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Cape Town - Sygnia [JSE:SYG] sees itself as a fin-tech company and disruptor in the financial services sector, explained Sygnia CEO Magda Wierzycka.
"We are seen as a disruptor because we are launching our financial products at significantly lower fees, and we're making the fees very transparent," Wierzycka said.
From a fin-tech perspective, Sygnia has a robo-advisor on its platform that allows users to get financial advice for free.
"With the margins over the years in the financial industry being unreasonably high, we saw it that our financial and investment products are sold at a discount of 70%, which one will typically pay for a unit trust," said Wierzycka.
"Fees are one of the material aspects of your financial health, when you retire," she said.
She added: "A study in 2013 by national treasury stated that if management fees are decreased by 2% per annum, after 40 years one can retire with a lumpsum, which is 60% higher than you would otherwise."
For the first seven years since the company started, the target was South African retirement funds. "We've disrupted that market by lowering fees, and many of our competitors followed," she said.
WATCH: Interview with Sygnia CEO Magda Wierzycka
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