The government wants more British adults investing. New research from RED C suggests a significant barrier stands in the way, and it has nothing to do with product availability or interest rates.

The Chancellor has made her position clear. Pension reform, ISA simplification, a renewed push to channel household savings into productive investment: the policy direction of travel is unmistakable. Britain wants more of its citizens investing, and it wants that to start soon.

What the policy agenda has not yet grappled with is the scale of the confidence problem that sits beneath it. According to new research from RED C, conducted among a nationally representative sample of 2,000 UK adults in March 2026, the gap between men and women in financial self-confidence is vast. And without a serious effort to address it, the investment opportunity the government is trying to create risks being captured almost entirely by those who are already engaged.

 

The numbers are stark

On the question of whether they feel confident in their understanding of how investing in stocks, shares or funds works, 45% of men agree. Among women, that figure is 22%. A gap of 23 percentage points on a question that asks not about investment knowledge, but simply about confidence in one’s own understanding.

The picture is similarly pronounced when it comes to assessing investment risk. Half of men (50%) say they feel confident in assessing the level of risk associated with an investment and understanding how it aligns with their personal risk appetite. Among women, that figure is 30%.

| 45% of men feel confident in their understanding of how investing works. Among women, that figure is 22%.

These variations describe a market in which women are, on average, approaching investment with uncertainty rather than readiness, and in which the products, platforms and communications that currently exist are not bridging that gap.

 

This is not primarily a knowledge problem

It would be tempting to read these figures as an argument for financial education. More information, clearer explanations, better literacy programmes. That framing, while not wrong, misses something important about what the data says.

The statements in this research explored confidence rather than knowledge. Confidence is shaped by whether you see yourself reflected in the conversation, whether you feel that a product or service was designed with you in mind, and whether you feel empowered to make an accurate assessment of risk.

Financial services brands have, for a long time, communicated about investment in a register that skews toward a particular kind of customer: typically male, typically already engaged with financial markets, typically comfortable with concepts like volatility, asset allocation and portfolio construction. The confidence gap in this data is partly a consequence of that accumulated positioning. It suggests there is an opportunity for media and tools that speak to women in ways that can break down these barriers and give more tailored guidance to build confidence.

| 50% of men feel confident assessing investment risk against their personal risk appetite. Among women, the figure is 30%.

 

The AI dimension compounds the problem

The confidence gap intersects with a second finding from this research in a way that deepens the concern. As Part 1 of this series explored, AI is beginning to play a meaningful role in how people make financial decisions, but adoption is uneven. And those who are engaging with AI tools tend to be more financially confident as well as more digitally active.

Among consumers identified as confident investors, 36% say they would feel comfortable using AI to help them make decisions about investments. Among those who lack investment confidence, that figure falls to just 8%. Confidence breeds engagement breeds further confidence, and AI is becoming part of that virtuous cycle for those already inside it.

For women, who are significantly underrepresented among confident investors, this creates a compounding risk. The tools that are beginning to democratise financial decision-making for some consumers are not reaching the group that arguably stands to benefit most from them.

| Among confident investors, 36% are comfortable using AI for investment decisions. Among those who lack confidence, the figure is just 8%.

 

What the industry needs to reckon with

The policy context gives this particular edge. ISA reform, increased pension flexibility, and a government push toward retail investment participation will generate product launches, marketing campaigns and customer acquisition drives across the sector in the months ahead. The question is whether those efforts will be designed to actually reach women, or whether they will default to the communications playbook that has, demonstrably, not closed this gap.

The brands that will succeed in bringing more women into investment over the next five years will not be the ones that add a women-focused campaign to an unchanged product architecture. They will be the ones that treat the confidence gap as a design problem, something to be solved through research, iteration and genuine understanding of what is actually holding people back.

That is precisely where we at RED C can help brands. Understanding the emotional and attitudinal drivers of financial confidence, not just at the level of aggregate statistics but within specific customer segments and at specific life stages, is what we do. From there, brands can create campaigns, products, and initiatives that genuinely resonate.

 

Part 3: When AI starts moving your customers

The final article in this series turns to the commercial stakes of AI adoption for financial services brands. If Part 1 mapped where AI is taking hold and this piece has examined who is being left behind, Part 3 asks what AI is doing to the economics of customer relationships, and why the sector’s most digitally engaged customers may also be the ones most likely to leave.

New report available now: Britain’s AI Finance Divide

This article draws on insights from our wider report: Britain’s AI Finance Divide. We spoke to 2,000 adults across the UK via a nationally representative online survey, and the research revealed three critical insights shaping the future of financial services:

  1. AI adoption is highly uneven, varying widely by region and age
  2. There is a pronounced gender confidence gap, with women far less confident than men in their understanding of how investment works
  3. AI is likely to boost switching behaviour and diminish brand loyalty

Download a snapshot of the report here

For a full complimentary overview of the report, and to discuss how these findings might apply to your organisation, please get in touch with our Financial Services teams in the UK & Ireland – they would be delighted to hear from you.

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UK: [email protected] | IE: [email protected]