According to Lightyear, the number of assets under management (managed savings) the average monthly growth volume of 20% clearly shows that Europeans’ interest in investments is high even in difficult economic conditions. Additionally, last year Lightyear increased its team by 45%, launched eight new products and entered the market in two new countries.
According to Lightyear, the key factor last year was the increase in the value of money. The European Central Bank achieved its tenth consecutive base interest rate increase in September, leading Europeans to actively look for ways to earn income from their stagnant money. This trend is also clearly reflected in Lightyear’s client portfolios. For example, if in 2022 19% of the average Estonian user’s wallet consisted of cash, by the end of 2023 this figure would have risen to 34%. Lightyear offers users 3.25% interest (central bank base interest rate – 0.75%) on uninvested euros, maintaining the liquidity of the money.
“Our goal last year was to bring as many Europeans as possible, across the continent, to the Lightyear platform. Our goal this year is to focus heavily on different countries separately, to ensure that investors have the best platform in their home country to grow their money. We also have big plans for this year in Estonia, which I and our entire team are very excited about,” says Martin Sokk, co-founder and CEO of Lightyear.
In 2023, Lightyear launched the only low-fee BlackRock money market funds in Estonia as an alternative interest earning option, which today offer a gross yield of 3.99% (changing daily). According to the platform, local companies have started to use money market funds particularly actively for liquidity management purposes: 56% of the assets of multi-owner companies on the platform are invested in money market funds.
Investment diversification has become increasingly important in 2023. 69% – more than two-thirds – of Estonians’ Lightyear portfolios include both stock market investments (stocks or ETFs) and income-generating cash (interest on uninvested money or funds of the money market).
In terms of investments, the triumph of technology continued in 2023: Apple, Tesla and Amazon top the list of investors’ favorite stocks in Estonia and across Europe. The most popular Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) were Vanguard’s VUSA and VUAA, both dividend-paying and accumulating S&P 500 index funds. In third place was IUSA, which tracks the same iShares index. The most popular money market fund in Estonia was the local currency euro fund.
Last year, the average value of a transaction carried out on the Lightyear platform exceeded the average transaction on the Baltic Exchange by more than two times, while investments on the Baltic Exchange were made on average for 395 euros, in Lightyear, according to pan- Statistics Europeans, the same amount was 800 euros.
Besides technology, the most popular sectors in Estonia last year were finance, consumption and manufacturing, and healthcare.
By 2024, the company’s priority is to launch tax-efficient investment accounts in several countries, expand the number of tools on the platform and localize the platform into special languages.
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2024-01-04 12:15:00
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