'She' to power wealth management

More women on the Chinese mainland are taking center stage in managing wealth and making investment decisions in a field that has been traditionally dominated by men, the highest among their global peers, said a recent industry report.

Swiss bank UBS Group AG said in its Own Your Worth 2020 report on the wealth value of high net worth female individuals that globally about 58 percent of the women respondents allowed their spouse to take the lead in financial decisions. The ratio is 54 percent in the United States and 62 percent in the United Kingdom, while it is only 14 percent on the Chinese mainland.

Nearly half of the female respondents on the mainland took the lead in such matters, while 37 percent made decisions jointly with their spouse, higher than the 23 percent and 19 percent globally.

When it comes to making short-term financial plans, more than 80 percent of the women respondents from the mainland were deeply involved in making decisions including managing daily expenses, payment and bills.

For example, a third of the respondents on the mainland consider insurance as a top priority. Seven out of 10 respondents consider long-term medical care services and retirement plan as essential, said the report.

The report garnered responses from nearly 4,400 married, divorced and widowed women from 11 markets worldwide including United Kingdom, United States and Singapore between September 2017 and November 2019. This was the first time that the report involved more than 400 women from the mainland.

Among the factors that prevented 14 percent of the women from making financial decisions, acknowledgment that the spouse had better knowledge of such affairs accounted for 93 percent, while focus on other matters stood at 84 percent.

Lyu Zijie, director of wealth management at UBS China, said that this was the first time that women on the Chinese mainland were expressing their opinion on wealth-related matters. "We are happy to see an increasingly independent side of women on the mainland as She-economy has become an impetus in social and economic development."

She said the incentives for women to take charge of wealth management are the general awareness of longer life expectancy among women than men and the necessity of and urgency in long-term financial plans, such as making preparations for retirement and medical care services.

Vera Wang, a wealth manager at a leading company in the securities industry, said more money is pouring into the hands of women in China, mostly through inheritances in single-child families or via self-made wealth from emerging industries.

"Women are more sensitive and rational in managing household finances and investment," said Wang. "When selecting financial portfolios, women are good at risk-control and less interested in products with high leverage."