S'porean women lag in financial literacy

SINGAPORE - When it comes to managing their finances, Singaporean women are behind their counterparts in Vietnam and Thailand, according to MasterCard's worldwide survey on financial literacy.

Conducted between Sept 13 and Nov 11 last year, the survey involved 10,000 women from 24 countries. The respondents were assessed on basic money management, financial planning and investment.

The inaugural MasterCard Worldwide Index of Financial Literacy ranked Singaporean women fifth out of 12 countries in the Asia-Pacific region.

Singaporean women ranked highly in the first two components with scores of 70 and 80.4 (out of 100) respectively. However, they scored only 51.5 in investment skills and knowledge.

For the region, Thai women topped the index with an aggregate score of 73.9 followed closely by New Zealand (71.3), Australia (70.2) and Vietnam (70.1). Developed markets Korea (55.9) and Japan (59.9) made up the lower spectrum of the index.

ORIGINAL SOURCE