FNB Smart Solutions Smart Account customers are individuals with annual earnings of under R100 000 – using Smart Debit, Smart Cheque and Stokvel Accounts.

The Smart Solutions customer analysis found that 55% of females compared to 45% men typically had more responsible saving behaviours.

FNB Smart Product House CEO Henry Walton says “the findings confirmed the general perception of women as the ‘risk managers’ in the household”.

“We found that women, unlike their male counterparts, put something away for that rainy day. Our data indicates that marginally more women in the lower income sector have funeral plans than men. More than 52% of our, female customers take out funeral policies, “says Walton.

The 2009 SA Female Nation Survey by Women 24 - completed by 8 641 women with earnings of R4 500 or more a month – found 49% of women contributed to their households, with 28% support from their partners.

The Women 24 survey says 54% of the female respondents claimed to control the family money, and 88% say they worry about money.

“At FNB we also found that more women preferred to save in groups, we have more women in our FNB Stokvel Account. The women range from street vendors to entrepreneurs that save for various reasons including preparations for the following year’s school fees,” adds Walton.

He adds that recent Finscope research revealed that more than 70% of savings clubs or stokvels in South Africa had only women members.

“We also found that women are also better at repaying their debts than their male counterparts. There is also a higher retention on women’s bank accounts. This means that a higher percentage of women keep their accounts active and open,” concludes Walton.