Dubai: There’s a popular belief that investing is a man’s game, but recent trends show that women in the UAE and the rest of the Middle East are increasingly stepping up to earn extra income and achieve financial independence.

Money experts and investment platform providers in the UAE have noticed an increasing number of women who want to see their wealth appreciate, and they’re seriously exploring a wide range of options, from structured savings and investment plans to online trading.

Saana Azzam, a financial executive at Saxo Bank Middle East, said they have seen more women trading on a whole range of products online, from currencies, stocks to futures. “From our existing clients, we have seen a yearly increase over the year of around 900 female traders worldwide, including the region.”

Saxo is an online investment trading bank that provides platforms for investors to trade foreign exchange, exchange traded funds, equities, futures, bonds and contract options and other derivatives.

Women from across nationalities in the region have been lured into the world of online trading because they have seen other people making substantial returns. The rise of female traders is fuelled in part by growing disposable wealth among women.

“I would say women in this market are interested in trading and I’ve recently seen that new mothers and housewives are definitely those that are looking at trading as a way of making extra income,” Azzam told Gulf News in an interview.

“Dubai or UAE is a multicultural place, so we’ve seen the whole range of women that are interested in trading. This is not culture-specific. It’s anything from Emiratis to expatriates to Arab women from different age brackets.”

Awareness

The global trading scene is still dominated by men, but Azzam said it is not correct to generalise that women are still lagging behind in the area of financial literacy. She said the gender gap can be attributed to the lack of awareness on the availability of investment platforms and facilities.

“Many other studies have shown that women have a great grasp of finance. It’s just a matter of introducing and welcoming women to start trading and saying that we believe in them.”

In a research released last year by Financial Finesse, a provider of financial wellness programmes in the US, it was found that women are still trailing men in every area of financial planning, particularly in basic money management. About 65 per cent of women reported having a handle on their cash flow and spending less than their income, compared to 83 per cent of men. Less than half of women have set aside an emergency fund, compared to 64 per cent of men.

Tracey Hughes, a financial planner based in Abu Dhabi at Acuma Independent Financial Advice, said more women, particularly those in their 20s and 30s, are now aware of the importance of investing and financial planning.

“In the 10 years that I have been in financial services, I am very pleased to see a large increase in the number of women that have started to realise the importance of investments and, more importantly, the desire for financial independence,” Hughes said.

“For many of my female clients, it is more need driven and investing for a particular reason, children’s education, retirement, among others. As such, it tends to be more structured savings and investment plans rather than directly into the share markets and platforms,” she added.