Millennial and Female Retail Investors on the Rise in UK

Investment Trends, a global research firm, has released its 2018 UK Online Investing Report on Tuesday. The report, which is based on a survey of over 10,500 investors, showed two interesting trends - an increase in millennials and women joining the retail investment space.

The report gives an in-depth study of the attitudes, behaviors, wants, and needs of online share and fund investors in the United Kingdom. It is the largest and most comprehensive independent study of the UK Market. The report is based on a survey 10,746 investors and traders, and it was conducted in May.

Increase in millennial and female retail traders

Two of the key highlights the report outlined was that the number of online retail investors in the UK is growing and more women are investing. According to the report, an estimated 2 million individuals made at least one online share or fund deal trade in the 12 months ended May 2018. This is an increase of 5% from the previous year.

Commenting on the results, Dr. Irene Guiamatsia, Research Director at Investment Trends, said:“the extraordinary influx of young investors is one of the key contributors to the growth in DIY investor numbers this year. Out of the 100,000 who placed their very first online share deal during the period, 33,000 were millennials.”

While men still largely dominate the investment space, the number of female investors was also on the rise during the reporting year. According to the report, women represented around one in four of last year’s cohort of new investors.

Guiamatsia also added: “Overall, the gender gap remains huge, with women representing only 15% of DIY investors. However, we expect to see a gradual shift in the make up of the market as more and more women, particularly younger investors make their way in.”

Attracting new retail investors amid European regulations

Now the challenge, and opportunity, for brokers, is to engage with the new demographic of investors - both millennials and women. This challenge comes at a time when European regulators are toughening their stance on brokers and financial firms to protect retail investors. A part of these changes includes marketing restrictions and new legal obligations.

In addition to the new demographics of retail investors, the report also highlighted The Share Centre and Hargreaves Lansdown. This is because the survey also measures client satisfaction across online fund and share dealing platforms.

According to the report Hargreaves Lansdown received the highest satisfaction ratings in the online fund dealing space. The Share Centre, on the other hand, was the most highly-rated for overall satisfaction among share dealing clients.