Wo­men in­vestors: Res­ults for the year 2024

Arion Bank has published a brief and accessible report summarizing the progress achieved in the first year of the "Women Invest" initiative.

The reason Arion Bank launched the Women Invest initiative is that gender equality still does not exist when it comes to savings, pension assets, or participation in the financial market. We want to change this.

The report reviews the state of affairs at the beginning of 2024, highlights key challenges, and statistically demonstrates where we need to focus our efforts to level the playing field.

• Income distribution between genders remains very unequal

• At the current rate, it will take 70 years for securities ownership to become equal between genders

• Only 24% of executives in Icelandic business are women

• Only four women are CEOs of listed companies on the Stock Exchange compared to 29 men

Fortunately, many positive developments have occurred in recent years. In the report, we visually present an overview of the measurable results we see in the 2024 statistics for our customers that can be attributed to the Women Invest project:

• Women's fund transactions increased by 11% compared to 6% for men

• Women's total assets in custody portfolios increased by 8.5% compared to 2.9% for men

• Women's assets in subscription funds increased by 19% compared to 7% for men and now represent 46% of the total

• 19% more women purchased funds in 2024 than the previous year

There is no doubt that a large group of women in Icelandic society has a strong interest in improving their financial literacy, as evidenced by the high attendance at our educational events throughout the country, with more than 4,000 women attending Women Invest events in 2024. At these events, we shed light on finance and investments, how markets work, how to start a company, and how to complete tax returns, as well as exploring pension matters and insurance.

We clearly see that powerful educational campaigns like Women Invest play a key role in increasing women's financial independence and encouraging them to take action. We hope the report sparks interest, and we are happy to answer any questions. At the same time, we note that Women Invest is a long-term project, and we are just getting started.

The report can be accessed here.