8I Holdings Annual Report 2022

Plain-text annual report

8I Holdings Limited FY2022 Annual Report OUR MISSION To Empower Everyone Towards Sustainable Wealth CORE VALUES • We do what we think & say • We enjoy what we do • We take care of one another like family • We uphold the trust of our stakeholders • We work towards mastery without invalidation of self & others • We are value-conscious (for the price paid) • We keep our hearts & minds open • We make it simple Contents About 8I Holdings Limited 8I Ecosystem Chairman’s Message Operating and Financial Review Corporate Structure Board of Directors Key Management Playing Our Part for Communities Corporate Governance Statement Remuneration Report Directors’ Statement Independent Auditors’ Report Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Income Consolidated Statement of Financial Position Statement of Financial Position - Company Consolidated Statement of Changes in Equity Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows Notes to the Financial Statements Additional Information 3 4 5-6 7-11 12 13-14 15 16-17 18-27 28-30 31-35 36-40 41 42 43 44-45 46-47 48-88 89-90 About 8I Holdings Limited 8I Holdings Limited (“the Group”) is an Australian-listed investment company engaged in the businesses of Financial Asset Management and Financial Education Technology (“FinEduTech”). Through VI Fund Management Pte Ltd (“VI Fund”), the Group operates a registered fund management business in Singapore, investing in public listed equities in the United States and Asia-Pacific region. VI Fund focused strategy involves a research-driven and systematic stock selection process refined over the years and around investing in growth businesses with favourable industry dynamics over the mid to long-term. Through 8VI Holdings Limited (“8VI”), the Group operates under the VI brand within the FinTech and Financial Education space. With offices in Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan and Shanghai, VI is the region’s leading FinEduTech provider supporting a community of value investors globally. The VI App is a smart stock analysis and screening tool infused with a social networking element to enable users to invest smarter, faster and easier. 3 Holdings Limited and Subsidiaries | Annual Report FY20228IG Holdings Limited FY2022 Annual Report 8I Ecosystem At 8I, we continue to strengthen our business ecosystem on a single platform – leveraging the power of AI, big data and machine learning that sharpens our competitive edge, sharing value investing knowledge and empowering our growing community to make smart investment decisions by applying the principles of value investing. Financial Asset Management Powered by a research-driven and systematic stock selection process refined over the years and around investing in growth favourable businesses with industry dynamics over the mid to long-term. Financial Education Technology FinEduTech arm of the Group operating under the brand name VI. VI makes investments smarter, faster and easier with results-oriented and process-driven analysis powered by technology, and promotes investor education and knowledge exchange on a single platform. 2 2 0 2 Y F t r o p e R l a u n n A | s e i i r a d i s b u S d n a d e t i m i L s g n i d l o H 4 8IG Holdings Limited FY2022 Annual Report Chairman’s Message Ken Chee Executive Chairman 8I Holdings Limited Dear shareholders, We began FY2022 amid a challenging landscape and uncertain macro-economic and geopolitical environment around the world. While the world enters profound uncertainty and faces a fragile period ahead, investing for the future has become a much more complex maneuver, in which we continue to persevere for regardless. In our FinEduTech segment, 8VI’s business continues to make headway through VI App and VI College. While we have seen a gradual normalisation in both our operations and earnings over the course of FY2022 as the world emerges into the new normal, we continue to see overall growth in this business segment if we were to disregard the outlying results generated during the height of the pandemic. Given the exceptional growth rates for the Financial Education and FinTech industry in the last two years, this result did not come unexpected. As 8VI continues with its acquisition, retention and technology development strategies outlined in the previous year, it remains laser-focused on its customer-centric culture and cultivating a mindset focused on creating lifetime value within the team. We strongly believe that these efforts play a key role in contributing to 8VI’s overall growth, be it in recurring revenue or through the creation of new revenue verticals, which is expected to lead to an increase in the customer lifetime value. Amongst them, Valiant Wealth Advisory and MetaVI World Pte. Ltd. were both incorporated in FY2022 to pursue the above strategy, with the former currently in licensing applications in both Singapore and Malaysia. Meanwhile, our Financial Asset Management entity has undergone a rebranding exercise to reflect its alignment with the entire Group’s identity and core values in FY2022. The Financial Asset Management business is now operating under the identity of VI Fund. As mentioned in the previous year, the outlook for our fund management arm will continue to be challenging since our returns will tend to be dependent on overall market performance. Despite that, we have launched 2 different fund series, namely VI Fund and VI Quant, both with fund products separately focused on Asia and the US, to continue our efforts in creating value for VI Fund Management. That being said, our Financial Asset Management segment had been impacted by various macro-economic factors which resulted in market volatility. China’s regulatory tightening and zero-COVID policy, US inflationary pressure and the ongoing Ukraine-Russia war have all inadvertently weighed down on the performance of this business segment, and further dampened the overall results of the 8I Group. 5 2 2 0 2 Y F t r o p e R l a u n n A | s e i i r a d i s b u S d n a d e t i m i L s g n i d l o H PERSEVERING TOWARDS THE FUTURE Chairman’s Message the abovementioned, our FinEduTech Considering segment recorded an increase of 21% in revenue from S$26.0 million in FY2021 to S$31.3 million in FY2022. The Financial Asset Management segment, despite the sturdy growth based on the underlying portfolio analytics of the selected stocks, registered an investment loss of S$7.3 million giving rise to a consolidated net loss after tax at S$3.5 million in FY2022. Given the volatility of the global markets, we are constantly evolving our business approach by refining our investment criteria and processes, as well as business strategy for our FinEduTech segment. Persevering towards the future We are in turbulent times, and the business is facing headwinds on multiple fronts. Yet, with every crisis comes opportunity, and we will continue to persevere in our efforts that began with our transformation journey pre- pandemic. However, as the world continues to be disrupted by technology at faster rates, and thereby displacing businesses and industries altogether, we remain mindful of the evolving landscape and will continue to persevere while staying adaptive and innovative by embracing change, through the adoption of disruptive technologies brought on by Web 3.0 in our operations and strategy moving forward. More details will be outlined later in the Operating and Financial Review. Playing our part for communities With Education and FinTech as our guiding pillar for our corporate citizenry, these remain key areas in which we are actively involved in. As we remain true to our aim of advancing technology by supporting education, VI Bursary continues to support the National Technological University (“NTU”) School of Computer Science and Engineering in ensuring deserving students access to quality education. Expanding on the education front, this year, we added Singapore Institute of Technology (“SIT”) to our list of VI Bursary recipients to provide financial assistance to students in need. Since the establishment of VI Club For Youth in December 2020, the team has conducted 16 training sessions on an entire range of topics from financial literacy, monetary management, life goals, relationships and even careers! Through its different engagement activities both online and offline, the team has reached out to and impacted a total of 1,718 VI Club For Youth members and students in Malaysia thus far. Looking Ahead In the past few years, we have seen a functional shift in our organisation and new ways of operating through greater digitalisation on all fronts. In line with our strategy and new ways of operating, we moved into a new office space and headquarters at 1557 Keppel Road in December 2021, optimised for hybrid and flexible working arrangements, with infrastructure to support the Group’s digital strategy. In testament of our efforts for designing a space which mirror our values and with the needs of our team members in mind, we were awarded the prestigious Singapore Good Design (SG Mark) Award 2022 (Interior Design) by the Design Business Chamber Singapore. We expect a difficult 18 to 24 months ahead with greater macro-economic challenges and volatility. While the global situation continues to evolve rapidly, we are deeply appreciative of the efforts of our team and the support of our shareholders through these challenging times. Backed by our healthy balance sheet, we will continue persevering to the future by focusing on our long-term strategy and to emerge stronger than before. Ken Chee Executive Chairman 8I Holdings Limited 6 Holdings Limited and Subsidiaries | Annual Report FY2022Operating and Financial Review Backed by our strong balance sheet, we are confident of getting through the tough times ahead with the support of our community and team, just as we have done numerous times before. We firmly believe that as long as we continue to adapt and innovate, we will emerge stronger, together. Clive Tan Executive Director 8I Holdings Limited The last quarter of FY2022 was particularly eventful - with the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, persistent inflation, and slowing growth worldwide, amidst the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic and a climate crisis. This culminated in what was a “perfect long storm” according to Senior Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam (Singapore). While crisis has never been too far away in human civilisations, every crisis always presents itself as an event that is generally feared, and the uncertainty created in the human psyche and emotions have often created economic situations that are reflected through prices on the prevailing pessimism at that point in time. When the pandemic started in early 2020, the US Federal Reserve made the decision to pump more liquidity into the economy to prevent a downturn. Much of these fiscal stimuli from governments around the world allowed households to hoard liquidity, providing them with excess capital that they never had. This allowed many in turn to look towards the stock and property markets as many are restricted to spending at home, and that facilitated the stock boom of the pandemic stocks, driving them to very high valuations. When it was evident that vaccines were working, allowing the world to transit back to a pre-pandemic world, the corrections for these stocks started, and many tech- oriented growth stocks and funds were badly hit. The darling stocks and funds of yesteryear have become the worst performing asset class in this period. The general market correction in prices have negatively impacted us as well, as we lean towards a growth-oriented technology driven strategy. Nevertheless, we believe such corrections are temporary in nature, as we invest in fundamentally sound growing companies. It is at times like these where for those investing with a longer-term horizon, will feel like it may become a missed opportunity to grab solid companies, especially for many who are risk adverse and dare not venture into the markets, a few years down the road. Overview In FY2022, the Group recorded a revenue and investment loss of S$24.0 million, representing a negative growth of 26% as compared to S$32.5 million in FY2021. Net loss after tax for the same period was recorded at S$3.5 million, a reversal to the net profit of S$9.0 million in the previous corresponding period. The decline in our Group’s performance is mainly attributed to the negative performance of our various investments in the equity markets. The main bulk (65%) of our funds (as of 31 March 2022) are invested in the US markets while the remaining (35%) are invested in Asia, in particular China and Hong Kong. Our FinEduTech segment recorded an increase of 21% in revenue from S$26.0 million in FY2021 to S$31.3 million in FY2022 while the Financial Asset Management segment registered S$7.3 million in investment loss from S$6.6 million in investment gains previously. 7 Holdings Limited and Subsidiaries | Annual Report FY2022Operating and Financial Review Financial Position Despite the negative financial performance for FY2022, we continue to maintain a healthy balance sheet. As of 31 March 2022, our cash and cash equivalents hovers around S$26.3 million as per previous FY. Our current assets increased from S$53.8 million in the previous FY to S$54.9 million in the current FY. Revenue (S$’m) 31.4 Cash and cash Equivalents (S$’m) 26.3 Due to changes in accounting treatment relating to leases, our decision to take up a long-term renewable lease (up to seven years) of our new Singapore headquarters at 1557 Keppel Road resulted in a big increase in our Property, Plant & Equipment and our Lease Liabilities. This treatment takes the full value of the lease agreements signed over the entire period on top of the renovation costs involved. This is the main reason for the increase in our total assets from S$58.0 million in the previous FY to S$65.5 million in the current FY. From a business perspective, there is fundamentally no change in our asset-light FinEduTech business model. Business Segment Report Financial Asset Managment VI Fund Management Pte Ltd Our Financial Asset Management division registered S$7.3 million in investment loss in FY2022, from an investment gain of S$6.6 million in the previous FY. While volatility of the stock markets on investment returns are to be expected, there are risk factors which we have underestimated the severity of its impact. Despite the market conditions, we are always working on refining our investment criteria and processes. We keep ourselves open to ideas and opinions yet exercise our own independent thinking. We constantly think about how to apply and leverage technology to make it better. In a nutshell, it is what other businesses will call Research and Development. VI Fund Asia While Asia (and particularly China) has been on the growth path in the past few decades, the capital markets have not done as well. The discrepancy caused by this divergence could be tied to either weaker demand for Asian stocks or a general mistrust of the investment climate in China. This is exacerbated by a general mistrust of Chinese stocks and the PRC companies’ corporate governance. This is not helped by a strategic decision that we made in deploying our capital for growth. For our Asia portfolio, we narrowed down our focus to China and Hong Kong, favoured by the scalability of their businesses in China’s huge market and also Australian Technology stocks (which by leveraging technology are more scalable). This portfolio was hit negatively in alignment with the Chinese equities up till December 2021. We encountered a downward correction in ASX technology sector in alignment with the US Technology meltdown in January 2022. Despite the negative performance, the underlying portfolio analytics of the selected stocks continue to be very strong in their growth. The zero-COVID strategy employed by the PRC Government will be likely to have some impact on their business performance. ASX Technology sector’s crash corresponded with the US Technology sector meltdown in January 2022. We were seeing signs of recovery until Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022 and China’s revival of lockdown was not supportive of a recovery in the short to mid-term. For ASX stocks, we have made a transition towards more defensive plays since. We have positioned our portfolio’s exposure to China in alignment to the Chinese Government’s 14th Five-year Plan (2021-2025) by investing in areas with thematic tailwinds such as Renewable Energy, Industrials and Technology, Rural Consumption and Market Nationalism. The businesses chosen are among the top leading companies in their respective fields. However, despite strong growth rates achieved by these businesses, the stock prices still corrected significantly. Until and unless the investors are convinced that the Chinese Government’s political situation and policy decisions are more predictable, many are likely to stay on the sidelines or even exit the market totally. While the autocratic Government policies does create plenty of uncertainty and risk, our risk is reduced by the relatively lower stock prices of the Chinese companies. We must expect the possibility of more headwinds although the wind may also change direction very quickly in today’s equity markets. We believe that a clearer picture will emerge in the second half of the year. 8 Holdings Limited and Subsidiaries | Annual Report FY2022Operating and Financial Review VI Quant US The US market is the world’s largest stock market, comprising nearly 56% (according to Statista.com 2022) of the world’s stocks in 2022. Since the 2008 financial crisis, US stocks have been outperforming the rest of the world. (https://www.longtermtrends.net/msci-usa-vsthe- world/). While we are generally more optimistic about the US stock markets, this perception could be shaped by this extended run up in their stock prices. And in investment, nothing could be more true than the overstated statement of “past performance is not necessarily indicative of future performance”. At this stage, while we are expecting volatility and particularly in tech-related growth stocks, we are still optimistic about the longer term picture. In the short term, we have to be prepared that our portfolio will fluctuate and even correct downwards. However, in the long term, the US has proven that over the past two centuries and more, its constitution, political and values system allow businesses (and individuals) to grow, flourish and even exert their domination worldwide. Considering that despite the numerous major events that have happened (from World Wars, Great Depression and pandemics), the US has proven itself to be a resilient country. While there will always be a time when even the strongest will decline, we do not expect this currently nor in the next couple of decades. It is against this backdrop that we are investing the majority of our Group’s net worth in the US stock market. Nevertheless, the volatility of the markets can give even the most emotionally stable investor a severe test. Considering that, we decided to codify our investing approach so that we minimise our emotional responses to the market movements. As with all technology-related matters, constant refinement is the name of the game. As our VI Quant portfolio are well diversified (across 50 stocks or more) and now also across all sectors, by injecting funds on a regular basis (similar to dollar-cost- averaging), we will continue investing in the US markets over the mid to long term. I can only foresee that the possible Achilles’ heel to this strategy would be that of a war between the nuclear powers (which is always a possibility, albeit small, hopefully miniscule) or other apocalyptic events. Otherwise, it will be a case of how well or how much better we can do as a Group for all our stakeholders. For those of you who meet the criteria of accredited investors (as defined by MAS), please reach out to us on how you can take part in this. Our interests and intent are totally aligned on this, considering that we have the majority of our net worth in this market and strategy. Investing is a probabilistic game. And while we will select choices that will increase our odds, it does not mean that we will win according to our odds. There will be a deviation to the expected return. This deviation will be further multiplied with more volatile stocks, making returns from investments more lumpy and less predictable. The returns are also impacted by the overall market conditions and macro-economic business landscape that is often beyond the control of the businesses we invest in. 9 Holdings Limited and Subsidiaries | Annual Report FY2022FinEduTech 8VI Holdings Limited We have also collaborated with media partners across different region to roll out several content pieces and edutainment series suited for the local context. Some notable projects: Since 2020, 8VI enjoyed accelerated growth as the pandemic catalysed our digital transformation plan and created strong momentum for our acquisition, retention and technology development efforts for the following two years resulting in extraordinary growth for the segment. As the world emerges from the pandemic and embraces the concept of living with COVID-19, our growth rates have normalised over the course of this financial year. While we are cognizant of the ever-changing landscape and kept a close eye on costs and cashflow against the backdrop of our broader macro environment, the tapering growth rates have inevitably dampened our margins overall. However, this result was not unexpected given the exceptional growth rates for the Financial Education and FinTech industry in the last two years. On a different note, if we were to zoom out and look at our past records before the pandemic, our performance trend is still overall on the rise. In FY2022, our Total User Growth Rate and Subscriber Growth Rate for VI App in the last twelve months were recorded at 41% and -11% respectively. The number of graduates under VI College across the region grew by 24,069 in FY2022, as compared to 25,926 in FY2021 and 4,714 in FY2020. Despite seeing a significant increase in marketing related expenses, especially those on social and digital media, 8VI began investing in a number of projects and initiatives in the past year as a major focus to step up our branding efforts across the region. In part, our strategy to engage the wider audience through content creation and edutainment plays a vital role in support of our branding efforts. Riding on our success in Malaysia, we formed dedicated teams in both Singapore and Taiwan to ramp up production of language-specific content for engagement building across a wider set of audience. Thus far, our teams across the region have created a total of 729 videos, garnering over 65 million views, translating to more than two million hours of content watched across the globe. Though on-going content creation requires significant expertise and effort, we expect this to be an important initiative beneficial to our long-term development. - Money Money Home (Mediacorp, Singapore): Remake of the same series in Malaysia that sets out to educate Singaporeans on how to navigate wealth management and investment. - Bijak Labur (Astro Awani, Malaysia): Reboot of the YouTube series with the same name, exploring fundamental topics like financial literacy and Syariah Investment. (Business Weekly, Taiwan): - The Top Leaders One of Taiwan’s most influential finance magazines, featuring the latest economic highlights, career, lifestyle, and financial news. 百大顧問 We have also seen new benefits stemming from the network effect of our acquisition activities, where we have forged new business verticals that is complementary to the needs of our VI Community and users in a bid to increase our organic growth and expansion revenue. With the upcoming new revenue verticals, we have been 10 Holdings Limited and Subsidiaries | Annual Report FY2022 VI APP working to build positive customer experiences with a larger customer support team and a centralised CRM system which captures our customers’ touchpoints and thus, provide us with an increasingly holistic view of our customers’ journey. With several major updates expected for VI App in the coming year, we have also been growing the development team with both talented and passionate individuals in all things FinEduTech. These customer-centric culture and mindset focused on creating lifetime value is expected to support our strategy in growing our recurring revenue, creating new revenue verticals as well as increasing our customer lifetime value. In the coming financial year, we will be growing our recurring revenue for VI College through expansion of our range of programmes revolving around the Web 3.0 theme. MetaVI World Pte Ltd was incorporated to support 8VI’s efforts in introducing a series of new programmes focusing on educating the public and investing community on the emerging Web 3.0, the Metaverse, Non-Fungible Tokens (“NFTs”), cryptocurrencies and other forms of digital assets. Whereas for VI App, the rapid growth of our user base in the last two years has enabled us to move into the next phase, which is the Blue Ocean strategy. Data intelligence collected from our expansive user base has enabled us to create better products with improved pricing strategies to target a wider audience with an interest in investment. The new initiatives in both VI College’s and VI App’s acquisition strategy expands the size of our addressable market across the region and thus, bringing in new potential graduates and subscribers. To create a more integrated experience for our customers, and thus increasing the rate of engagement, the team at VI App have successfully integrated iFast’s brokerage services into VI App in January 2022. Singapore-based users have the ability to now seamlessly trade through their iFast accounts linked to VI App, with potentially other similar partnerships upcoming. Spotting opportunities in the current ecosystem to serve the VI Community better, 8VI has also incorporated Valiant Wealth Advisory in FY2022 to provide ancillary financial services such as financial and insurance advisory, and is currently in the process of applying for licenses in both Singapore and Malaysia. For more details on the FinEduTech segment, please refer to the annual report for 8VI Holdings Limited. Looking Forward While the current situation does seem to suggest that this crisis is not going away anytime soon and seems likely to trigger a recession, we are prepared to face difficult times in the next 18 to 24 months. Backed by our strong balance sheet, we are confident of getting through the tough times ahead with the support of our community and team, just as we have done numerous times before. We firmly believe that as long as we continue to adapt and innovate, we will emerge stronger, together. Acknowledgement Despite the challenges that we face, we would like to acknowledge all our shareholders and team members who stood by us over the years. We truly appreciate your understanding and support and as we navigate these turbulent and challenging times. Our mission and vision remain unwavering; we will continue to empower everyone to create sustainable wealth and inspire 100 million lives. Clive Tan Executive Director 8I Holdings Limited 11 Holdings Limited and Subsidiaries | Annual Report FY2022Corporate Structure As at 24 June 2022 8I Holdings Limited 8 Investment Pte. Ltd. FinEduTech 8VI Holdings Limited Financial Asset Management Investment Funds Registered Fund Management Company Wealth Advisory Web3.0 Financial Education Financial Technology Valiant Wealth Advisory Singapore Pte. Ltd. MetaVI World Pte. Ltd. 8VI Global Pte. Ltd. 8BIT Global Pte. Ltd. 8IH Global Limited 8IH VCC VI Fund Management Pte. Ltd. 8VI Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. 8VI Taiwan Co. Ltd. 8VI China Pte. Ltd. VI Quant US Fund VI US Fund 8VI FIN Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. 8VIC JooY Media Sdn. Bhd. 8VI China (Shanghai) Co. Ltd. Hidden Champions Fund 2 2 0 2 Y F t r o p e R l a u n n A | s e i i r a d i s b u S d n a d e t i m i L s g n i d l o H 12 Board of Directors Ken Chee Executive Chairman Clive Tan Executive Director Ken Chee is the co-founder and Executive Chairman of 8I Holdings Limited and is based in Singapore. Appointed to the board in May 2014, Ken advises on strategic planning and partnerships development, and is involved in driving the all-round growth of the Group’s FinEduTech businesses and smart investing technology platform, VI. Ken has more than 20 years of professional experience across business development, operations, strategy and marketing from his past roles, including Quicken (Singapore) and Telekurs Financial. Ken was awarded the Spirit of Enterprise, Honoree Award in 2005 by the President of the republic of Singapore for outstanding business results. He sits on the board of 8VI Holdings Limited and is also a Young Presidents’ Organisation member under the Singapore Chapter. Ken graduated from the Singapore Polytechnic with a Diploma in Banking and Financial Services, and the University of Queensland with a Bachelors’ Degree in Business Administration. He also attended Columbia Business School in New York for its Executive Program in Value Investing. Clive Tan is the co-founder and Executive Director of 8I Holdings Limited and is based in Singapore. Within the Group, Clive is responsible for the strategic planning, business development, corporate policies and risk management of its businesses, and leads the asset management activities under VI Fund. Clive also chairs the board of Australian-listed 8VI Holdings Limited. He began his professional career in the public education sector in Singapore. Clive holds a Post-Graduate Diploma in Education from the National Institute of Education and an Honours Degree in Mechanical and Production Engineering from the Nanyang Technological University. He also attended the University of Technology, Sydney on an academic exchange programme. 13 Holdings Limited and Subsidiaries | Annual Report FY20228IG Holdings Limited FY2022 Annual Report Board of Directors Yiowmin currently sits on the Singapore steering committee of the Professional Risk Managers’ International Association (PRMIA), and the Standards and Technical Committee of IVAS, the latter of which Yiowmin is also a programme instructor. Yiowmin is also an associate lecturer with the Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) teaching financial statements analysis and valuation. Yiowmin is also an active Grassroots Leader, serving as the Assistant Treasurer and Auditor with the Fernvale and Kebun Baru Citizen Consultative Committees respectively. Yiowmin also serves as the Chairman and Treasurer of the Buangkok Community Club Management Committee and the Fernvale Citizen Consultative Committee Community Development Welfare Fund. Yiowmin is also a member of the Kebun Baru Inter-Racial and Religious Confidence Circles. Yiowmin was awarded the Pingat Bakti Masyarakat (Public Service Medal) (PBM) by the President of the Republic of Singapore on 9 August 2016. Charles Mac Non-Executive Director Charles was appointed Non-Executive Director in April 2016. Charles has more than 18 years of IT corporate experience, of which 15 years in the SAP Industry dealing with multinational companies across the Asia Pacific Region. He has held various leadership roles for large, global multinational companies with extensive experience across Asia Pacific in Team Management, Quality Management, Audits, Business Development and Contract Deliveries. Charles currently serves on the Board of ASX-listed companies, 8I Holdings Limited. Charles is an Australian citizen and holds a Bachelor of Computing (Information System) from Monash University. 14 Chay Yiowmin Non-Executive Director Yiowmin is currently the chief executive officer of Chay Corporate Advisory Pte. Ltd., a boutique corporate advisory firm. Yiowmin is also the lead independent and non-executive director of UMS Holdings Ltd. and Raffles Infrastructure Holdings Limited, lead independent director and non-executive chairman of Watches.com Ltd. and Metech International Limited, and a non-executive director of 8I Holdings Limited. Between 2013 and 2015, Mr. Chay was the lead independent and non-executive director of Advance SCT Limited, and between 2019 and 2020, Mr. Chay was a non-executive director of Libra Group Limited. Since graduating in 1998, Yiowmin has accumulated many years of public accounting experience in Singapore and the United Kingdom with a number of reputable international accounting firms, including PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, Deloitte and Touche LLP, Moore Stephens LLP and BDO LLP, the latter of which he was the advisory partner heading the Corporate Finance Practice from 2012 to 2019. Prior to joining BDO LLP, Yiowmin was an assurance partner from 2010 to 2012, specialising in financial services and shipping. Yiowmin holds a Bachelor of Accountancy (Hons) and a Master of Business from Nanyang Technological University, and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Birmingham. Yiowmin is also a Fellow Chartered Accountant (FCA Singapore) of the Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants (ISCA), an Associate Chartered Accountant (ACA) of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW), and a Chartered Valuer and Appraiser (CVA) of the Institute of Valuers and Appraisers of Singapore (IVAS). Key Management Louis Chua Chief Financial Officer Low Ming Li Chief Operating Officer Louis Chua joined 8I Holdings in April 2015 as the Company’s Chief Financial Officer and is based in Singapore. Within the 8I Group, Louis is responsible for risk management, corporate secretarial, controllership and treasury duties, as well as economic strategy and financial forecasting for the Company. Louis is based in Singapore and has more than 20 years of assurance, financial and commercial experience including infrastructure development, treasury and controllership operations, group restructuring and consolidation, tax planning and mergers and acquisitions. Before he joined 8I Holdings, he had 9 years of experience within the offshore marine industry in Farstad Shipping, with its holding company listed in the Oslo Stock Exchange. He started his career in the Audit Division with Arthur Andersen (later Ernst & Young). Louis graduated from University of Queensland with a Bachelor of Commerce (Finance). He is a fellow member of The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (FCCA), a member of the Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants (ISCA) and Certified Practising Accountant Australia (CPA Australia). Low Ming Li is the Chief Operating Officer at 8I Holdings. She has been with the Company since September 2015 and is based in Singapore. Within the Company, she manages the preparation and implementation of strategic activities and advises on several corporate functions including investor relations, strategic partnerships and growth initiatives. Ming Li also oversees the investment deals for the Company and is also deeply involved in the development of corporate policies and management of the Group’s Human Capital. She was previously with PricewaterhouseCoopers Singapore for over 13 years, where she held the position of Associate Director (Assurance) and was in charge of strategising and rolling out new business development initiatives, coordinating audit assignments as well as training and development. Her past clients include Singapore Exchange Limited, the Government Investment Corporation of Singapore and Singapore Press Holdings. Ming Li graduated with a Bachelor in Accountancy and a minor in Banking and Finance (Second Class Upper) from Nanyang Technological University. She is also a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charterholder, and a member of the Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants (ISCA). 15 Holdings Limited and Subsidiaries | Annual Report FY2022Playing Our Part for Communities With a strong belief of strength in numbers, we engaged our VI Community to join us in giving back to the local communities that we are based in. This year, we joined forces with our VI Community extensively through meaningful social initiatives and donations. to contribute generously and Persons with Disabilities. The team also rallied the VI Community in spreading warmth through the year end festive season with combined donations exceeding S$43,000 to the Straits Times School Pocket Money Fund and the Caregivers Alliance Limited. The unrelenting surge of COVID-19 cases in LETTER OF APPRECIATION Proudly presented to VI College for raising a grand total of: $28,961.06 Thank you for your donation to CAL. Because of your generous contribution we are able to continue providing training and support to caregivers of people with mental health issues. Tim Lee, CEO In collaboration with VI College's Invest for Good programme Meanwhile in Taiwan, similar efforts rallying support from the VI Community has allowed the team to raise 16 Malaysia in mid 2021 pushed the local healthcare system close to its breaking point as local hospitals struggled to cope amidst shortage of healthcare workers, medical supplies, and equipment. The team initiated an internal fund-raising effort and invited the VI Community to join their efforts in thanking the local frontliners with care packages and donation of medical supplies and equipment to Hospital Sungai Buloh, one of the primary COVID-19 centres in the state of Selangor. The collective effort saw close to RM35,000 raised to purchase a High-Flow Nasal Cannula (HFNC) Machine and several other respiratory devices. In September 2021, we matched the donations from our VI Community dollar-to-dollar in Singapore and contributed a total of S$20,000 to Cycle for Good for their efforts in combating elderly social isolation and building a more inclusive community for seniors Holdings Limited and Subsidiaries | Annual Report FY2022Playing Our Part for Communities NT$104,000 through matched donations from VI College Taiwan in return for sharing financial and investing knowledge. front, this year, we added Singapore Institute of Technology (“SIT”) to our list of VI Bursary recipients to provide financial assistance to students in need. With Education and FinTech as our guiding pillar for our corporate citizenry, these remain key areas in which we are actively involved in. As we remain true to our aim of advancing technology by supporting education, VI Bursary continues to support the National Technological University (“NTU”) School of Computer Science and Engineering in ensuring deserving students access to quality education. Expanding on the education Since the establishment of VI Club For Youth in December 2020, the team has conducted 16 training sessions on an entire range of topics from financial literacy, monetary management, life goals, relationships and even careers! Through its different engagement activities both online and offline, the team has reached out to and impacted a total of 1,718 VI Club For Youth members and students in Malaysia thus far. We are heartened that our vision of empowering growth and transforming lives through VI College and VI App now extends across our community efforts, and will endeavour to give back in more meaningful ways going forward. 17 Holdings Limited and Subsidiaries | Annual Report FY202218 Holdings Limited and Subsidiaries | Annual Report FY202219 Holdings Limited and Subsidiaries | Annual Report FY202220 Holdings Limited and Subsidiaries | Annual Report FY202221 Holdings Limited and Subsidiaries | Annual Report FY202222 Holdings Limited and Subsidiaries | Annual Report FY202223 Holdings Limited and Subsidiaries | Annual Report FY202224 Holdings Limited and Subsidiaries | Annual Report FY202225 Holdings Limited and Subsidiaries | Annual Report FY202226 Holdings Limited and Subsidiaries | Annual Report FY202227 Holdings Limited and Subsidiaries | Annual Report FY202228 Holdings Limited and Subsidiaries | Annual Report FY202229 Holdings Limited and Subsidiaries | Annual Report FY202230 Holdings Limited and Subsidiaries | Annual Report FY202231 Holdings Limited and Subsidiaries | Annual Report FY202232 Holdings Limited and Subsidiaries | Annual Report FY202233 Holdings Limited and Subsidiaries | Annual Report FY202234 Holdings Limited and Subsidiaries | Annual Report FY202235 Holdings Limited and Subsidiaries | Annual Report FY202236 Holdings Limited and Subsidiaries | Annual Report FY202237 Holdings Limited and Subsidiaries | Annual Report FY202238 Holdings Limited and Subsidiaries | Annual Report FY202239 Holdings Limited and Subsidiaries | Annual Report FY202240 Holdings Limited and Subsidiaries | Annual Report FY202241 Holdings Limited and Subsidiaries | Annual Report FY202242 Holdings Limited and Subsidiaries | Annual Report FY20228IG Holdings Limited FY2022 Annual Report 2 2 0 2 Y F t r o p e R l a u n n A | s e i i r a d i s b u S d n a d e t i m i L s g n i d l o H 43 2 2 0 2 Y F t r o p e R l a u n n A | s e i i r a d i s b u S d n a d e t i m i L s g n i d l o H 44 2 2 0 2 Y F t r o p e R l a u n n A | s e i i r a d i s b u S d n a d e t i m i L s g n i d l o H 45 46 Holdings Limited and Subsidiaries | Annual Report FY202247 Holdings Limited and Subsidiaries | Annual Report FY202248 Holdings Limited and Subsidiaries | Annual Report FY202249 Holdings Limited and Subsidiaries | Annual Report FY202250 Holdings Limited and Subsidiaries | Annual Report FY202251 Holdings Limited and Subsidiaries | Annual Report FY202252 Holdings Limited and Subsidiaries | Annual Report FY202253 Holdings Limited and Subsidiaries | Annual Report FY202254 Holdings Limited and Subsidiaries | Annual Report FY202255 Holdings Limited and Subsidiaries | Annual Report FY202256 Holdings Limited and Subsidiaries | Annual Report FY202257 Holdings Limited and Subsidiaries | Annual Report FY202258 Holdings Limited and Subsidiaries | Annual Report FY202259 Holdings Limited and Subsidiaries | Annual Report FY202260 Holdings Limited and Subsidiaries | Annual Report FY202261 Holdings Limited and Subsidiaries | Annual Report FY202262 Holdings Limited and Subsidiaries | Annual Report FY202263 Holdings Limited and Subsidiaries | Annual Report FY202264 Holdings Limited and Subsidiaries | Annual Report FY202265 Holdings Limited and Subsidiaries | Annual Report FY202266 Holdings Limited and Subsidiaries | Annual Report FY202267 Holdings Limited and Subsidiaries | Annual Report FY202268 Holdings Limited and Subsidiaries | Annual Report FY202269 Holdings Limited and Subsidiaries | Annual Report FY202270 Holdings Limited and Subsidiaries | Annual Report FY202271 Holdings Limited and Subsidiaries | Annual Report FY202272 Holdings Limited and Subsidiaries | Annual Report FY202273 Holdings Limited and Subsidiaries | Annual Report FY202274 Holdings Limited and Subsidiaries | Annual Report FY202275 Holdings Limited and Subsidiaries | Annual Report FY202276 Holdings Limited and Subsidiaries | Annual Report FY202277 Holdings Limited and Subsidiaries | Annual Report FY202278 Holdings Limited and Subsidiaries | Annual Report FY202279 Holdings Limited and Subsidiaries | Annual Report FY202280 Holdings Limited and Subsidiaries | Annual Report FY202281 Holdings Limited and Subsidiaries | Annual Report FY202282 Holdings Limited and Subsidiaries | Annual Report FY202283 Holdings Limited and Subsidiaries | Annual Report FY202284 Holdings Limited and Subsidiaries | Annual Report FY202285 Holdings Limited and Subsidiaries | Annual Report FY202286 Holdings Limited and Subsidiaries | Annual Report FY202287 Holdings Limited and Subsidiaries | Annual Report FY202288 Holdings Limited and Subsidiaries | Annual Report FY202289 Holdings Limited and Subsidiaries | Annual Report FY202290 Holdings Limited and Subsidiaries | Annual Report FY20228I Holdings Limited (Incorporated in the Republic of Singapore) Company Registration Number: 201414213R ARBN 601 582 129 www.8iholdings.com Singapore 1557 Keppel Road, #01-01, Singapore 089066 T: +65 6225 8480 Australia C/- SmallCap Corporate Pty Ltd, Suite 6, 295 Rokeby Road, Subiaco WA, Australia, 6008 T: +61 8 6555 2950 F: +61 8 6166 0261 Follow Us On:Facebook: www.facebook.com/8IHoldings Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/company/8iholdings

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