New Women’s Market Research Reveals Four Myths Banks Believe About the Female Economy

The Global Banking Alliance for Women (GBA) today unveiled a groundbreaking new study that reveals four common misconceptions bank leaders have about serving female customers. GBA is discussing the study and other themes related to scaling women’s wealth creation at its 13th Annual Summit, held Sept. 18 and 19 at the headquarters of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) in Washington. The $20 trillion female economy is increasingly an engine of economic growth, yet it remains underserved by financial institutions globally. In an effort to better understand how bankers view the Women’s Market, GBA commissioned a report, supported by McKinsey & Company, to explore the choices bankers make around growth strategies and the thought processes that drive those decisions. 30 senior bankers from around the world were interviewed as part of the study, and from those conversations, four commonly believed myths about the female economy emerged:

• Myth 1: Male and female customers are the same.
• Myth 2: All banks need is “feminized” products.
• Myth 3: There is no business case for serving women.
• Myth 4: There is no data on gender.

The data that dispels these misconceptions, presented in the report, underscores the tremendous untapped potential that economically empowering women represents for financial institutions. There is an estimated credit shortfall of $300 billion to women-owned small and medium enterprises (IFC, McKinsey). Seventeen percent of women worldwide do not have a bank account, and 25 percent of women are unable get a loan (CTI). At a time when banks are growing at just 3 percent annually in their core businesses, the report argues it is time to truly focus on this multi-trillion dollar opportunity. “It’s been proven that banks earn significant profits through investments in women, often in less than two years,” said IDB President Luis Alberto Moreno. “This study not only helps paint a clearer picture of the barriers bank leaders grapple with when considering targeting new segments, like the Women’s Market – it also makes the business case by looking at banks with programs that have successfully added value to women,” said GBA Chief Executive Officer Inez Murray. “We are pleased to be able to share these fresh insights into how banks can more effectively serve the Women’s Market at the Summit.” GBA’s flagship members-only event, the Annual Summit is the only banking conference of its kind – focusing exclusively on the power of the Women’s Market. The conference’s aim is to deepen the know-how and sharing of best practices among GBA banks about working with the Women’s Market, so that full financial inclusion for women can be achieved. This year’s Summit, hosted by the IDB and Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF), is the largest to date, with more than 30 banks from Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and North America attending. Read the full report here.