Chile Financial Market Commission publishes 24th Gender Report adding mutual fund coverage data and showing women hold 17% of directorships

The Chile Financial Market Commission (CMF) published its 24th annual Report on Gender in the Financial System, updating indicators on women’s representation in governance roles and gender differences in access to and use of financial products. The report also adds new gender-segregated statistics on population coverage of mutual fund investments and analyses debt renegotiation outcomes and impairments by gender. The CMF highlighted that women hold 17 percent of directorship positions in Chile, with the widest gaps among CMF-supervised banking subsidiaries and support companies of banking activities (9.9 percent) and non-banking payment card issuers (11.1 percent), while insurance companies (19.2 percent) and cooperatives (35.1 percent) show higher female participation. On financial products, the report finds broad population coverage without major gender gaps in product possession across cash management, savings, loans and insurance, but persistent differences in amounts, including 37 percent and 38 percent gaps in granted loan amounts and average debt, respectively, and larger gaps for housing and commercial loans. For mutual funds, more than 2 million individuals invested as of September 2024, with women representing 49.7 percent of investors and 42 percent of the CLP 33.2 trillion invested, while average investments were CLP 13.4 million for women versus CLP 18.2 million for men; gaps were more pronounced among those aged 60 or older and varied by income bracket. The report also records lower insurance possession among women (56.3 percent versus 58.8 percent for men) and better debt payment indicators, including a decline in arrears below 90 days from 0.37 to 0.31 percent for women compared with 0.46 to 0.40 percent for men, alongside fewer renegotiations and fewer impaired-status clients for consumer and housing debt.