BNY Mellon Investment Management launches a new strategy in Japan aimed at female investors in the age of "Womenomics."

BNY Mellon Investment Management, the US financial services firm, has launched a new Japan equity strategy aimed at tapping the growing strength of women investors in Japan. 

"Womenomics" is the term being used by Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to describe his policy of actively promoting the greater participation of women in the workforce. BNY Mellon's strategy will invest primarily in Japanese companies that are positioned to benefit from these structural economic changes and from the impact of women's consumer purchasing power. 

Abe has pledged to improve the status of female workers and has set the goal to increase their workforce numbers from 68 per cent at present to 73 per cent by the year 2020. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has estimated that Japanese gross domestic product could increase by 20 per cent within 20 years if the country can achieve male/female labor market equality.

"With the Japanese government actively promoting women participation in the workforce as a core growth strategy to address the demographic challenges that the country faces, we see a growing opportunity for investors to capitalise on womenomics," said Shizu Kishimoto, chief executive of BNY Mellon AM in Japan and one of the first female CEOs in the Japanese investment management sector.

The new strategy will be led by Miyuki Kashima, managing director and head of the Japan equities division, who will oversee a team of which more than half are female financial industry professionals.