A barometer of affluent investors’ views shows that there has been a 50 per cent surge in the number of high net worth women seeking professional wealth management services.

A barometer of affluent investors’ views shows that there has been a 50 per cent surge in the number of high net worth women in the UK seeking professional wealth management services.

The study, by findaWEALTHMANAGER.com, showed a sharp uptick in the number of women looking to change their arrangements or get a service, with professionals seeking discretionary investment management figuring highly.

“These women are predominantly in very demanding professions like law, accountancy or banking and, correspondingly, 81 per cent of female users are looking for discretionary investment management,” the report said. “What’s more, most of these cash-rich, time-poor females seem to have little interest in trying their hand at investing without professional guidance: 70 per cent of female users do no DIY investing and execution-only services are of interest to just 7 per cent,” it continued.

Almost three-quarters of all users are new to wealth management, which is a significant rise from historic averages, the report from the organisation said.

Separately, demand for execution-only channels has fallen to the lowest level in a year (10 per cent), while discretionary demand hit a new high of 75 per cent (across all users), it said.

These women are predominantly in very demanding professions like law, accountancy or banking and, correspondingly, 81 per cent of female users are looking for discretionary investment management.

In general, demand for UK wealth management services from international investors and expats increased significantly since the start of the year, the report said. The proportion of users who were not both UK-resident and domiciled reached 27 per cent in Q3 - up from 21 per cent in Q2 and 17 per cent in Q1.

“Women seem to strongly favour discretionary investment services and it’s easy to see why the kind of professional females we’re attracting like the idea of an expert taking responsibility. DIY doesn’t seem to appeal as much to women as it does to men, but even our male users are overwhelmingly favouring discretionary wealth management,” Lee Goggin, co-founder of findaWEALTHMANAGER.com, said.