Demand For Investment Services Among Malaysian Women Is Up

Female investors in Malaysia are on the rise. According to the nation’s stock exchange, there was a 36% increase in new trading accounts opened by female investors in 2021. They are also becoming more active, judging by the 194% increase in trading volumes between 2018 and 2021. Investment and wealth management firms operating in Malaysia should adapt their engagement strategy and recognize how female investors make their investment decisions.

Based on our investor segmentation analysis using the latest survey data on Malaysia, we discovered several important insights about gender-specific investor attitudes, preferences, and behaviors. For example, we’ve observed that female investors in Malaysia:

  • Act as “validators” and are willing to pay for financial advice. This represents a certain revenue potential both from (new) customer acquisition and (existing) customer enrichment points of view. Moreover, they feel confident about the quality of the advice they are getting, indicating their current satisfaction and loyalty. For an industry that is engineered to create and maintain long-term relationships to generate residual income, this last point cannot be understated.
  • Have a moderate risk appetite. This isn’t to say that they are less likely to take a risk in hopes for better returns. In fact, our data shows quite the opposite. This does explain, however, the reason why female investors tend to choose a different set of products than male investors and where they concentrate their holdings.
  • Are more interested in and likely to use automated investment management services. Female investors are more willing to trust digital financial advice than male investors and appear to feel comfortable with digital finance in general. For incumbent investment services providers developing greater digital capabilities, this finding may spur further ideation, especially due to growing pressures from independent investment platform players.
  • Are keenly interested in green finance. Products such as green funds, green home improvement loans, and green insurance enjoy more popularity among female investors in Malaysia, unlike green deposits and mortgages, which are more prevalent among male investors. This tells us that female investors generally have an acute sense of environmental issues and will steer their finances to reflect their values, particularly in short- to medium-term arrangements.

To learn more, read my full report, titled Understanding Female Investors In Malaysia (available for free for Forrester clients).