Saxo Bank sees a rise in female clients across all offices as more women globally continue to invest in higher numbers. The bank attributes this to a number of client initiatives.

Copenhagen-based Saxo Bank, which provides trading platforms for investors and fintech services, has seen a global rise in female clients.

Saxo Singapore saw a 6.5-fold increase in new women investors in 2020, compared with 5.3-fold for men, a trend which continued into 2021, the group said. In Saxo in Singapore, 30 per cent of investors and 24 per cent of trader clients are female, a much higher percentage than the industry average, according to the bank. New female clients are also generally younger, as the bank's client base is becoming more diverse, with 70 per cent of new clients in Singapore aged between 21 and 40.

“At Saxo, we believe that everyone should have the opportunity to fulfil their financial aspirations and make an impact, and investing is one of the ways to make an impact, for themselves and for the world and communities around them,” Maria Jelen, regional head of relationship management and sales trading, Saxo Markets, said. “This International Women’s Day, we are encouraged to see more women choosing to put their trust in Saxo to be their partner as they trade and invest into their future. While we are still far from [having] equal representation, the trend is currently picking up in the right direction.”

The bank said it has achieved this through a “concerted and targeted effort to incentivise more women to trade and invest,” with client initiatives such as providing expert insights on investing, educational seminars, low brokerage fees, and referral programmes.

The top ten stocks preferred by the bank’s global female clients include Meta Platforms, Tesla, Nova Nordisk and Microsoft Meta Platforms, Apple, ASML Holding, iShares Core S&P 500 UCITS ETF, Vestas Wind Systems, NVidia Corp, and Shell, in that order.

Within Singapore, female clients favour Tesla, Meta Platforms, iShares Core S&P 500 UCITS ETF, Microsoft, iShares Core Emerging Markets IMI UCITS ETF, iShares Physical Gold, Apple, iShares Core FTSE 100 UCITS ETF, iShares Developed Markets Property Yield UCITS ETF, and iShares US Aggregate Bond UCITS ETF, the bank said in a statement.

The pandemic has also galvanised female investors in the UK many of whom started investing in the last two years, this publication reported last week.

To mark International Women’s Day, Saxo in Singapore will host a roundtable discussion entitled Her Money Magic on 23 March. Speakers from 100 Women in Finance, Sophia and StashAway will share their investment journeys during the event at Saxo’s new office at CapitaSpring. The event will also be live streamed.