Chip sees record numbers of female investors

Chip, the digital savings app, has analysed the demographics and behaviours of its 350,000 users to find a record number of female investors as well as trends that not only indicate a higher appetite for risk among women compared to typical data but also a strong uptake in Environmental, Social, and Governance (or ESG) investing. Chip has given cash savers access to greater possible returns through its new investment fund offering earlier this summer. The company is aiming to give users the control of a savings product as well as access to the returns potential of investing. The fintech, which last month launched the hotly-anticipated ChipX plan, bringing even more new BlackRock funds to its users, found that close to a third - or 27% - of its investors are women. This is 17% higher than the national average reported by the Office for National Statistics and significantly higher (in some cases 80% and 42% more) than some of the figures reported by single-share trading platforms. Chip also found that 46% of its female investors have a Stocks & Shares ISA - nearly four times more than the UK average of 12%, as reported by Boring Money. The analysis of specific funds women choose to invest in found that the top five funds most popular among female investors are:

1. Balanced (official name BlackRock Consensus 60 - Acc (D)
2. Ethical X (official name MyMap 5 Select ESG Fund)
3. Cautious X (official name MyMap 4)
4. Clean Energy (official name iShares Global Clean Energy UCITS ETF)
5. Emerging Markets (official name BlackRock Emerging Markets Fund)

For contrast, the most popular funds among male investors are:

1. Cautious (official name Blackrock Consensus 35 - Acc (D)
2. Healthcare Innovation (official name iShares Healthcare Innovation UCITS ETF)
3. Balanced X (official name MyMap 5)
4. Adventurous X (official name MyMap 6)
5. Adventurous (official name BlackRock Consensus 85 - Acc (D)

The above findings suggest that the traditional notion that women adopt a more conservative and cautious approach while men tend to have more appetite for risk, including investing in new and untested shares, is becoming increasingly outdated. Instead, Chip’s data suggests that the most popular fund among men is Cautious - one of the lowest risk funds from Chip’s core investment offering. It’s closely followed by Healthcare Innovation showing a leaning towards moderate risk investing and interest in timely and topical thematic funds. For women, Balanced and Ethical X funds came out on top, showing a leaning towards ESG funds and suggesting that women are more open to taking investment risk than typical data indicates. Simon Rabin, CEO of Chip, commented: “Our goal is to democratise savings and investments. I believe that everyone should have access to tools that can effortlessly take their savings to the next level and help grow their wealth. This includes levelling out the playing field, which has traditionally skewed male.” “We want to show that investing is no longer an elite, exclusive world dominated by dusty legacy wealth managers or macho crypto-trading “bros”. Investing is a tool everyone should consider using. I hope that by removing barriers in the form of mountains of paperwork, overly complicated interfaces and complex language, we can empower absolutely everyone to put their money to work.”