“What the heck is robo-intelligence,” I thought to myself when I first heard about Bank Islam Malaysia Berhad (BIMB)’s new fintech product, BEST Invest, “is it the same as robo-advisory?”

“Robo-intelligence is not robo-advisory,” said Amirul Safuan, Head of Marketing & Digital Business Unit at BIMB Investment Management Berhad, in a cheerful yet repetitious tone that implies he had to answer that question hundreds of times.

“It is the use of big data technology, analytics, algorithms to assist on systematic processes of a large quantity of information and data in the decision-making process. It is about the “process”, not “advisory”.

He answered this during an online press event in May 2020, shortly after the app’s official launch. I was pleasantly surprised to be invited, happy that he took (and answered) all my questions, and then went ahead to hire me to write a user review, even after knowing my (transparency-first) writing style. 

To be honest, I am a fan of the keywords BEST Invest are using. Fintech. Big data. Artificial Intelligence. ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) aka Sustainable Investing. Top it off with Shariah compliance. Awesome, awesome, awesome. The only keywords missing are blockchain and cryptocurrency (jk jk). 

And so, it is my utmost pleasure to test out the BEST Invest app, and present to you a list of its pros and cons.