Bursa Malaysia launches #MyFirstTrade# Campaign in support of International Women's Day

KUALA LUMPUR: In celebration of the International Women’s Day, Bursa Malaysia Berhad (“Bursa Malaysia” or the “Exchange”) today joined 118 exchanges around the world in raising awareness on gender equality in the equity market space. To further commemorate the occasion, Datuk Muhamad Umar Swift, Chief Executive Officer of Bursa Malaysia, rang the bell at market opening, followed by a dialogue that centred around women’s participation in the Malaysian equity market.

According to the Exchange’s data, women are becoming increasingly engaged in their investing activities, accounting for 36 percent of new Central Depository System (CDS) accounts opened year-to-date, up from 34 percent in 2021 and 32 percent in 2020. In addition, female investors made up close to 30 percent of the total traded value in 2021, with a 178.4 percent increase in total traded value and a 194.1 percent increase in total traded volume between 2018 and 2021.

“While these findings have been encouraging, there is still much work to be done to improve financial awareness and participation in investing activities among women,” said Datuk Muhamad Umar Swift. “As a strong proponent of gender equality and inclusivity in the marketplace, the Exchange will continue to advance the gender equality practices in order to close the gender investing gap. This includes providing both men and women equal access to investment opportunities available in the equity market.”

Other than hosting the virtual dialogue, the Exchange also launched its #MyFirstTrade# Campaign, which will run from 8 until 31 March 2022. The campaign invites female investors to share their inspirational first-time trading experiences, with the objective of motivating more women to enter the market and begin their investing journey. These short stories will be featured on the Equality4Equity page on the Exchange’s Bursa Marketplace platform as well as on all its social media platforms.

During the campaign period and in line with efforts to encourage women’s participation in the equity market, the Exchange and participating brokers will waive their respective portions of the CDS account opening fees for the first 4,000 women who open CDS accounts via Bursa Anywhere.

Beyond social engagement activities, the Exchange leverages its online education platforms such as the Bursa Marketplace and Bursa Academy to provide relevant tools, articles and programmes that can help inspire more women to consider equity investing for positive wealth creation.