Improving gender diversity in the funds management industry is a key focus for fund managers, the 2022 Financial Services Council (FSC) Diversity Survey has found.
The FSC surveyed 20 of its global and domestic fund manager members and found that all wanted to improve diversity in investment teams. The majority of those surveyed (95 per cent) are tracking gender diversity statistics within their organisation as well as within their investment management teams.
CEO of the FSC Blake Briggs said: "The survey found women on average make up 27 per cent of investment teams. While this is a two per cent increase from last year's survey, the investment community recognises there is more work to do.
"Women are underrepresented in asset management roles and the funds management industry continues to work on this to ensure women consider financial services as a career path. Fund managers are connecting with industry initiatives such as F3 - Future Females in Finance and Future IM/Pact to raise
awareness of the interesting and rewarding roles a career in investment management offers.
"Driving change will take time but we are heading in the right direction when it comes to encouraging more women to choose the funds management industry to build a career."
The survey also found:
- 68 per cent of fund managers have set diversity targets for the business across a range of areas such as having an inclusive environment and using a range of measurements and targets to monitor this
- 45 per cent of fund managers set formal diversity targets within investment management teams and 78 per cent reported making progress against their target
- Organisations are focusing on a range of areas to drive change. Focus areas include:
- refreshing Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) policies
- focusing on development of talent
- increasing graduate pools
- setting targets
- development and retention of staff
- introducing accountability at all levels
- having teams monitor progress in gender diversity and setting targets.
The FSC last year launched its FSC Women in Investment Management Charter (WIM Charter), with the purpose of providing members with a practical framework to support greater gender balance in investment management roles. The WIM Charter introduces accountability and transparency mechanisms to enable organisations to achieve their desired, self-nominated, gender diversity target within their investment management teams.
