Fintech executive shares views on gender, business in Southeast Asia

Fintech insurer’s mission is to unlock the potential of money for everyone

The Asset recently spoke with Samantha Ghiotti, deputy chief executive officer at Singapore-based fintech insurer Singlife, about social changes that have moulded new opportunities for women, how that relates to the role of women in the financial services and insurance industries, and the firm’s expansion plans in Southeast Asia.

Ghiotti, who was appointed in January, oversees business growth. Among her previous roles, she served as a board member at some of the world’s largest financial institutions, including American Express, First Data, and the Royal Bank of Scotland.

TA: Is the generational transfer of wealth in Asia providing new opportunities for women? And does it mean anything for digital insurers?

SG: Absolutely, there are opportunities for women as gender equal inheritance is becoming the moral standard in most societies and women are more financially educated that in the past.

As Asia is an extremely vast and diverse region, inheritance laws across the continent vary drastically, making it difficult to group the region as a whole.

However, in East Asia and the Pacific alone, the World Bank reports that 79.2% of nations have some form of gender equal inheritance laws in place, ensuring women from high-net-worth families have access to a generational transfer of wealth.

However, a recent survey by Butterfield (Singapore) found that 60% of high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) in the region are not planning for succession, making it difficult to assume a direct relationship between generational transfer of wealth and new opportunities for women.

Additionally, due to the multi-faceted nature of gender parity in finance, it may be myopic to assume this correlation. Instead, we should pay attention to the social changes that have moulded the new opportunities that women now enjoy.

With more equal access to education, employment and financial inclusion, women in many parts of the world, including Asia, are now self-sufficient and have greater access to the financial resources that were previously unavailable to them.

As such, digital insurers should embrace shifting social changes to serve the growing pool of female customers who are looking to protect themselves.  

TA: Would you say women are well suited for a career in the financial services sector/insurance? (For example, a study showed that men have a tendency to buy and sell stocks too often.)

SG: Once upon a time, men thought women were unsuited for anything outside the kitchen. We now cringe at that notion. I think women are suited to a career in financial services, because it depends on the person, not the gender.

As humans, we need categories to make sense of the world, but categories often lead to huge generalizations, generalizations then result in stereotypes, and stereotypes – research proves – are mind blockers for true understanding.

Plenty of studies suggest women are more risk averse. They generate better returns over the long run. They tend to buy and hold. Indeed, there are differences between men and women when it comes to investing, but there are more differences within each of these categories than across them.

For example, a 45-year-old woman with two children, a mortgage and a full-time job is statistically far more similar in investing behaviour to a man with equal characteristics than a woman who’s 28, single and looking to build a career. Ethnographic studies point at age, ethnicity, education, level of income and liabilities, all describing far more variance than gender when it comes to investing behaviour.

I believe that it is not merely about differing female or male tendencies or preferences that impact one’s career in financial services but rather one’s leadership, hard work and talent.

We are a prime example of a financial institution with a significant number of powerful female (and male) professionals that continue to build the company to become one of the most successful fintechs in Singapore.

We are proud to be championing diversity, giving equal opportunities for all our staff members to succeed. However, it is important to note that we are but one company in a large pool of financial services companies and greater representation on our part does not equate to overall gender equality for the industry. As such, there is still a long way to go before we can safely say that the financial sector is truly gender-equal.

TA: Are there markets in Asia that the company sees as expansion potential for its unique model?

SG: Despite only launching in 2017, the company in the midst of expanding in the Philippines and has been issued with the licence to operate there early this year. This is the first market outside of Singapore that the company is licensed in, and we have already seen the potential of our unique offering to fit and satisfy local customer ne.

With our digital-first, connected financial services, we can reach our customers and satisfy many of their ne with a tap of the finger. This is well suited to Southeast Asia as the world’s mobile economy hot spot.

However, there are, of course, considerations when expanding within Southeast Asia particularly when it comes to cultural, social, and economic differences that require a deep understanding of the nuances of each market.

As some Asean countries have a largely cash-based brick-and-mortar approach to finance while others have a preference for digital payments, the region does not operate as a monolith but is richly diverse and requires an understanding on a hyper-local level.

Being based in Singapore, we are lucky to be in the heart of Southeast Asia with a strong understanding of the diverse ecosystem and continue to shape the financial landscape of the region.

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