The Purse Podcast · 2026-02-14 · 18 min
Symmie Swil is the UK General Manager of Europe’s leading investment infrastructure provider, Upvest. With nearly twenty years of banking and fintech experience, Symmie is passionate about broadening access to investing. Symmie has previously held positions as Deputy Chief Operating Officer & Chief of Staff at Investec, and Head of SME Banking at Starling. We cover the following: 01:09 Symmie Swil: From banking to building investing infrastructure 02:41 What still holds women back from investing? 04:14 The gender wealth & gender pension gap explained. 07:41 What UpVest actually does (The ‘Stripe for investing’ behind the apps) 09:33 Fractional investing 101: Why lower minimums change everything 11:33 Trust in embedded investing: Transparency, security & regulation 12:53 UpVest’s UK expansion: The opportunity, the data, and responsible scaling 14:28 Five to ten year vision: Women designing the future of wealth tech 16:28 Final thoughts.
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