Women: An Untapped Advantage for Legacy Financial Services Brands
Despite women holding rising financial power, they remain surprisingly underserved in the financial services sector. Over 50% of the U.S. bank workforce consists of women, yet fewer than 8% of bank CEOs are female. And 85% to 90% of financial advisors, portfolio managers, and fintech product leads are men. This disproportionately male leadership shapes product development, with default assumptions that often reflect male preferences, risk profiles, and life stages.
Financial institutions that prioritize women’s lived realities—across race, age, and income—aren’t just advancing equity. They’re creating smarter, more adaptive, more profitable products for the market as it actually is.
The She Lab is here to guide you on your journey, starting from wherever you are now to winning with women. Let's look at the opportunity together.
Why Women Consumers Matter More Than Ever
It's no secret, but we can't say it enough: women are an economic powerhouse, controlling or influencing approximately $31.8 trillion in U.S. spending annually. By 2030, women are expected to hold 66% of U.S. wealth, a seismic shift in financial influence that brands cannot afford to ignore.
Female customers seek tailored financial advice delivered with empathy for the complicated situationship women often have with money - qualities that many traditional institutions struggle to provide. This disconnect represents a massive opportunity for financial services brands that can effectively respond to women's distinct preferences and needs.
The She Lab's proprietary Femme Filter qualitatively examines brand experiences through the lens of 5 dimensions that motivate women: Feelings, Enablement, Meaning, Memorability and Ease, returns a score from 0-25 and provides actionable strategies to move the needle.
FEMME Filter™ (trademarked methodology)
66%
U.S. Wealth
Expected to be controlled by women by 2030
$31.8T
Annual Spending
Influenced or controlled by women in the U.S.
The Unmet Needs: Financial Products for Women
The financial services industry has underperformed in developing products that address women's unique financial journeys and concerns.
Caregiving Support
Women need financial products that account for caregiving responsibilities, which often lead to career interruptions and financial impacts.
Flexible Employment
Products that accommodate inconsistent income streams from gig work, part-time employment, or entrepreneurship are in high demand.
Life Event Planning
Women seek tools for navigating major life transitions like divorce, widowhood, solo traveling and educational funding for children.
A striking 50% of working women report that current banking services don't adequately meet their needs, creating a massive opportunity for brands that are ready to deliver cultural relevance to women through products, services, experiences and messaging.
The FEMME Filter shows opportunities for Enablement and Meaning within the product space.
Digital Opportunity: Websites and Apps for Women
The digital experience gap in financial services represents a significant opportunity for improvement. A remarkable 72% of women report frustration with current banking interfaces, citing unnecessary, often legacy complexity, and lack of intuitive design.
Women's Digital Preferences
  • Intuitive navigation that doesn't require financial expertise
  • Community features that enable knowledge sharing
  • Clear guidance through complex financial decisions
  • Trust and transparency in design and communication
The FEMME Filter shows opportunities for Ease within the product space.
The Experience Gap: When Brands Don't Listen
Representation matters in financial services. As of 2025, only 23.8% of Certified Financial Planner (CFP®) professionals are women, contributing to a significant experience gap.
Many women report feeling misunderstood or excluded during interactions with financial advisors. Their top demands from financial services providers include:
  • Clear, jargon-free communication
  • Empathy and understanding of life circumstances
  • Proven expertise that builds confidence
The FEMME Filter shows opportunities for Feelings and Memorability within the services space.
Women-Led Fintechs are Disrupting the Status Quo in Financial Services
Women-led financial technology companies are rapidly gaining traction and challenging traditional models. Seven out of ten finalists in the 2023 Women's World Banking FinTech Challenge were female-founded, with half focusing specifically on credit solutions for women-owned businesses.
These disruptors aren't just making an impact socially – they're delivering stronger financial results, generating twice as much revenue per dollar invested compared to their legacy counterparts.
How Women-Led Fintechs Are Winning Women (And Threatening Legacy Brands)
Inclusive Design
Women-centric fintechs prioritize inclusive design principles that welcome users of all financial literacy levels and backgrounds.
Flexible Products
Innovative fintechs offer products adapted to women's needs: low-income solutions, credit for female entrepreneurs, and gig worker support.
Growing Network
Global funding and networking opportunities for women founders are expanding, creating a positive ecosystem for further innovation.
Case Studies: Winning with Women
Ellevest
A financial platform built by women, for women. Ellevest focuses on personalized investing and financial coaching that considers unique factors like the gender pay gap and longer lifespans.
  • Impact: Grew to manage over $1.5 billion in assets.
  • Growth: Achieved a 100%+ annual client growth rate, demonstrating strong market demand among women for tailored financial services.
Fidelity
Fidelity launched initiatives like "Fidelity's Women and Investing" to empower women through educational resources, workshops, and personalized advice, fostering financial confidence.
  • Engagement: Saw a significant increase in female account openings, particularly in retirement and brokerage accounts.
  • Reach: Their "Invest in Her" program engaged over 1 million women, leading to greater financial literacy and participation.
Bank of America
Through programs like the "Institute for Women's Entrepreneurship," BoA provides access to capital, mentorship, and resources for women business owners, fostering economic empowerment.
  • Support: Supported over 150,000 women entrepreneurs through dedicated programs and funding.
  • Investment: Facilitated over $2.5 billion in loans and credit to women-owned businesses annually, significantly boosting their growth.
What is Missed by Not Involving Women
1
Market Share Loss
Traditional providers risk losing significant market share to nimble, gender-aware fintechs.
2
Opportunity
Women of color and underserved female groups offer significant revenue opportunities -if only their unique needs and lifestyles were reflected in financial products, services and experiences- including UX.
The She Lab Advantage: Partnering for Progress
Real-Time Insights
The She Lab delivers actionable insights from diverse women consumers, providing a window into previously overlooked experiences and preferences.
Specialized Capabilities
Rapid user research, collaborative product co-creation, and comprehensive UX audits delivered via our FEMME filter - help financial brands identify and address critical gaps.
Proven Results
Focusing on small segments of women shows measurable improvements in inclusive design, customer retention, and market share gains among women consumers.
The She Lab's unique approach bridges the gap between traditional financial institutions and the evolving needs of women consumers, creating pathways to mutual success.
Call to Action: Redefining Financial Services for Women

The Future is Female-Focused
Women will fundamentally shape the next decade of financial services innovation, requiring a comprehensive rethinking of industry leadership, product design, and digital user experience.
Financial brands that partner with the She Lab gain the insights and expertise needed to future-proof their offerings in a rapidly evolving landscape. Together, we can create financial services that truly work for everyone.
Meet the Founders
Authors of: "DecodingSHE: Winning With Women Consumers" (2025) and "Power Up Your Brand: The Women Entrepreneur's Guide to Getting Paid to be Bold, Brilliant and Unapologetically You" (2019)
Stacy Graiko
Co-Founder & Managing Partner
Stacy is a qualitative strategist with over 20 years of experience helping global brands connect with consumers. Holding an M.A. in Positive Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania, she specializes in brand strategy, product innovation, and experience design across various sectors including financial services, CPG, health/wellness, politics and beauty. Stacy's agency and research career includes strategy and planning roles at Mullen, Fallon, Carmichael Lynch, Kantar, Ipsos and Morning Consult.
Dr. Faith James
Co-Founder & Managing Partner
An award-winning marketing and branding executive, Dr. Faith James brings over 25 years of experience creating successful campaigns for Fortune 500 brands like IBM, Microsoft, and Pepsi. Known as the "Queen of Branding," she is a certified Personal and Social Branding Strategist and CEO of The Personal Branding Consultancy LLC. Faith's agency and research career includes account management and stategy roles at Ogilvy, Kirschenbaum Bond + Partners, Carmichael Lynch and Sentient Decision Science.