Asian households still save as much as half their wealth in cash. Fintech platforms like Syfe want to change that

Growing up in India, Dhruv Arora’s mother gave him one key piece of financial advice: Put his money in the bank. 

But Arora, now the founder of Singapore-based fintech platform Syfe, quickly realized that following his mother’s advice meant his money “did absolutely nothing.”

“We have quite a heavy culture of saving,” Arora says, citing Asia’s often unstable economic and policy history. But inflation and low interest rates end up eroding the value of household savings. “Over time...