Contrary to established stereotypes, its research shows that 59 per cent of women are in the driving seat when it comes to money, leaving men with a mere 41 per cent share.

Women also had a better understanding of children’s savings products, according to Family Investments. An impressive 62 per cent of women respondents were aware that a child trust fund is a tax-efficient savings product compared with 52 per cent of men.

The survey showed that mums are more likely to set up a child trust fund and to top it up than dads. And that 37 per cent of women have been inspired to set up additional savings vehicles since arranging a child trust fund.

In terms of online banking, two-thirds of women prefer to manage their finances over the internet, according to the survey; however, just 20 per cent of women currently set up bank or building society accounts online.

The top ten reasons women gave for opening a new savings account were: a good interest rate; online account access; ease of opening the savings account; government incentives; tax-efficiency; good customer service; a regular way to save; good security systems; savings account provider reputation; and promotional incentives.

Head of savings and investments, Miles Bingham, says: “The ability to set-up and access your personal finances online is becoming more and more essential. Women usually set up their child’s CTF and we have provided this service in response to their needs. 88 per cent of mums say that they will monitor finances more frequently if they can do so online.”

In response, Family Investments has set up a new online wizard, which, according to Mr Bingham, enables “mums to monitor their child’s CTF and manage many aspects of the account. When their child is older, Online Wizard can even be used to teach children about the value of saving regularly – online wizard can help predict what the final value of the fund could be.”

Customers can register online to check the value of their child’s trust fund, top up their child’s account, view statements, find out their remaining annual allowance, and find out how much their account may be worth when they reach 18.

“We have already seen how much internet access will mean to parents – online wizard received more than 1,400 registrations within hours of its launch,” says Mr Bingham.

© Fair Investment Company Ltd