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Diversity & Inclusion: “If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it”
The importance of data in measuring the success of diversity and inclusion programmes
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How can diversity and inclusion support sustainable business practices in asset management?
Using diversity and inclusion to build a culture that supports long term grown
Diversity in investment around the world
What does it look like, and what can be done to improve it?
Expert view: IA chief executive Chris Cummings on social mobility
"Certain doors were closed to me coming to London from a working-class family in Yorkshire”
Working parents and the post-covid-19 impact
How the pandemic forced some women to leave their jobs or reduce their working hours
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PRESENT
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Women in Investment:
How to progress in sales and distribution
Progressing as a fund manager
How to progress as a leader
Eliminating barriers to a diverse workforce:
Three ways to help end recruitment biases
Three ways to encourage social mobility at a graduate level
How to break down socio-economic barriers to a career in investment management
As the “father of management thinking” Peter Drucker famously pointed out, you can’t fix a problem until you understand the size and nature of it.
Diversity & Inclusion is no exception; if you don’t have data on the ethnicity, socio-economic background, and gender of the people in your organisation, there’s no way to tell how much you need to do to meet internal – and external – targets, or indeed whether existing D&I programmes are working or not. “Quality data is very important to measuring the success of D&I initiatives and launching effective new programmes,” says Smera Ashraf, Head of Group and IFA Distribution at HSBC Global Asset management UK. “Without meaningful and accurate data, you cannot have the understanding of your current situation and starting point that you need to help shape your journey.”
Gathering D&I data is not always easy, though. In fact, the Investment Association (IA) report “Ethnicity in investment management”, published in March 2021, identified a lack of data as one of the main barriers to improving D&I. It found that, while 75% of firms had begun gathering ethnicity data, only a handful had achieved the level of disclosure required to draw meaningful conclusions.
Quality data is very important to measuring the success of D&I initiatives and launching effective new programmes
Smera Ashraf, Head of Group and IFA Distribution at HSBC Global Asset management UK
You can’t capture authentic workplace data without your employees’ participation
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Here, we explore the challenges linked to capturing and storing D&I data and highlight some of the ways asset managers can tackle these to ensure they have enough data to drive tangible change.
Indispensable for everything from identifying D&I risk areas to setting targets and measuring impact, data is the cornerstone of a successful D&I policy. “No company’s commitment to diversity and inclusion can be taken seriously until it collects, scrutinises and is transparent with its workforce data,” says Baroness McGregor-Smith in her 2017 government review Race in the workplace.
D&I data challenges
Legal and regulatory frameworks often hinder this process. In the UK, for example, employers must adhere to the Equality Act 2010, the GDPR rules, and the Data Protection Act 2018. And in many parts of the world, there are even stricter regimes.
However, whatever data protection regulations you are grappling with, you can’t capture authentic workplace data without your employees’ participation. So, the biggest challenge for many employers remains to get their employees on board. “The main barriers to collecting data on D&I include availability of data, privacy, and country specific laws” Ashraf says.
Gaining your employees’ trust and persuading them to engage with D&I data drives requires complete transparency around the data you want and why.
The transparent truth
Ways to achieve this, while also communicating D&I targets and policies, include:
• Publishing articles in newsletters and on chat platforms • Diffusing video messages advocating the value of diversity data • Training line managers to capture data sensitively during appraisals • Running Q&A sessions on diversity and data collection • Including D&I questions in employee surveys
“Our leadership teams are driving numerous campaigns promoting the need for meaningful data and explaining what we do with the data and why we need it,” Ashraf says.
Strategies that are helping firms understand the impact of their D&I initiatives, meanwhile, include collecting recruitment data showing which candidates progress and measuring retention and promotion statistics to see which employees are taking on more senior roles.
Publishing articles in newsletters and on chat platforms Diffusing video messages advocating the value of diversity data Training line managers to capture data sensitively during appraisals Running Q&A sessions on diversity and data collection Including D&I questions in employee surveys
Sustainability is not just about environmental impact. For businesses, it’s also about building a company culture that supports long-term growth.
To do that, they need policies that both attract the right talent and create conditions that allow that talent to thrive as part of the team.
Diversity and inclusion are key to achieving this, particularly when it comes to appealing to and retaining younger workers.
Asset managers – like all companies – are under increasing pressure to lift the number of women in highly paid senior roles
Minding the gap
However, there is still plenty of room for improvement. Recent figures from Bloomberg put the gender pay gap in UK asset management companies at 29.4%, well over the 14.2% cross-industry average.
With mandatory gender pay gap reporting coming in on 5 October 2021, asset managers – like all companies – are under increasing pressure to lift the number of women in highly paid senior roles. There is also greater focus on ethnicity, LGBTQ+, and social diversity. Ethnic pay-gap reporting could come in as soon as 2023; and client expectations are evolving too.
Making a difference
“Increasingly, clients are expecting greater diversity in asset management businesses,” says Majithia. “They value diverse organisations and investment teams and assess asset managers on how this drives their culture as well as how diversity of thought feeds into their investment processes.”
Programmes designed to help include the recently launched 100BlackInterns, under which 200 firms took on at least one investment intern during summer 2021, and the Investment Week Women in Investment Awards celebrating talented women in the industry.
On an internal level, meanwhile, employers using a range of measures such as mentoring schemes and employee-led networks to address the issue.
More than eight in 10 millennials feel engaged and empowered by an inclusive culture, which in turn means businesses that prioritise inclusivity and diversity are twice as likely to meet or exceed their financial goals, according to recent insights from Deloitte.
In recent years, a growing number of companies have also adopted “blind” recruitment practices, which involve removing tell-tale identifiers such as names and photos from applications to allow individuals to be judged on merit alone.
The good news is that the Covid-19 health crisis has accelerated the uptake of diversity and inclusion policies at many UK asset managers, with pandemic-related initiatives such as greater flexible working opportunities set to make it easier for female caregivers to prosper in their careers.
Its analysis also suggests that just 1% of asset managers are black, even though government figures show black people make up 13.3% of the population in London, the industry hub.
“Investing is still not mainstream,” says Minali Majithia, Senior Marketing and Communications Manager at HSBC Asset Management.
“This lack of awareness limits the diversity of talent entering the asset management industry. Much work is being done to change this and we are seeing improved numbers in entry positions, but it will take time to represent equality in senior positions.”
“Mentoring and sponsorship are key tools,” Majithia says. “Changing employee benefits such as shared parental leave, job shares, and flexible working hours will also help, as will having role models in senior positions from diverse backgrounds.”
29.4%
The gender pay gap in UK asset management companies (compared to the 14.2% cross-industry average)
1%
Percentage of asset managers that are black
gov.uk
Bloomberg
Falling behind on gender and ethnic diversity makes companies 27% more likely to underperform, according to management consultant McKinsey & Company.
Its 2019 figures also show that having more female executives gives businesses up to a 25% boost, while greater ethnic and cultural diversity can improve profitability by 36%.
“It is clear that having greater ethnic minority representation within an organisation, especially at senior levels, increases the diversity of thought and thus lessens the risk of organisational ‘group think’,” says Imran Subzwari, Head of Wholesale Strategy at HSBC Asset Management.
The Swedish parliament has long been trying to establish a level of gender diversity in the country’s corporate boardrooms.
But despite most other research into diversity and inclusion in the workplace supporting this view, progress remains slow – particularly in some parts of the world.
The extent to which employers – including asset managers – prioritise diversity and inclusion is often driven by regulatory initiatives. And in this area, some countries are streets ahead.
The impact of differing regulatory frameworks
But in the US, Nasdaq only recently put forward a diversity proposal that would require most of the companies listed on the index to have at least two diverse directors – or be able to provide a good explanation for why that is not the case.
Elsewhere, the French National Assembly took until earlier this year to vote in a bill requiring companies with more than 1,000 employees to ensure women hold 40% of top management posts by 2030, while the UK Financial Conduct Authority is still consulting on plans for London-listed companies to have 40% women, as well as one non-White and one female director, in their boardrooms.
One of the advantages of looking at corporate diversity and inclusion at a global level is that it demonstrates what works – and what doesn’t.
The lessons to be learned
Nasdaq President Adena Friedman, for example, openly admits that her company’s diversity proposal is inspired by Sweden’s approach to executive gender equality.
Asset managers keen to improve diversity and inclusion on a global level can also look to companies that are leading the way in this field, for example by running campaigns offering employees the opportunity to self-identify across race/ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, neurodiversity, and other demographic categories.
Other acclaimed programmes involve working with non-governmental organisations to develop a regionally tailored approach to diversity.
“Many of the issues garnering media attention today surround race and ethnicity within a Western context, but more can be done to understand and solve similar challenges faced by minority groups in other parts of the world such as Asia,” Subzwari says.
While female representation on executive teams in the UK and the US as at 20% in 2019, McKinsey’s figures indicate that executive gender diversity globally was only 15% at that time.
For the asset management industry, this throws up a number of questions, including: Why is this? And what can be done to boost diversity around the world?
The Swedish parliament, for example, which has been more than 40% female for years now, has long been trying to establish a similar level of gender diversity in the country’s corporate boardrooms.
25%
Figures show that having more female executives gives businesses up to a 25% boost
36%
A greater ethnic and cultural diversity can improve profitability by 36%
McKinsey & Company
A central element of any diversity and inclusion drive, social mobility is a subject close to the heart of Investment Association (IA) chief executive Chris Cummings, who initially felt “certain doors were closed to me coming to London from a working-class family in Yorkshire”.
His experience has encouraged him to take steps such as launching the IA’s Investment 20/20 social mobility action plan to ensure people from similar backgrounds feel a job in financial services is within their reach – something he also believes offers significant benefits to the industry as a whole.
“It’s important that the industry is representative of the society in which it operates and the people whose money it manages,” Cummings says. “Investment managers need to attract talent from across the globe from different social classes and educational backgrounds in order to bring in fresh thoughts, ideas, and ways of working.”
Investment managers need to attract talent from across the globe from different social classes and educational backgrounds in order to bring in fresh thoughts, ideas, and ways of working
Chris Cummings, chief executive, Investment Association
We need to demonstrate that you don’t need to be privileged to work in investment management
Here, he shares his views on social mobility in asset management and explains what Investment20/20 has achieved over the last two years.
Addressing social mobility is an important part of our industry’s D&I agenda. Top positions in most industries are held by those from more privileged backgrounds and we need to demonstrate that you don’t need to be privileged to work in investment management.
How important is social mobility to D&I in asset management?
The IA is addressing the issue through a number of initiatives including an action plan for our members to push for greater social mobility within their organisations; it’s very much a live focus area.
Investment20/20 was set up to give young people who don’t have the privilege of networks access to industry jobs. Its focus on ‘hiring for potential rather than polish’ has already helped more than 2,000 young professionals start their careers in the industry, 85% of whom are from a state school, and 43% of whom are from ethnic minority backgrounds. More recently, the industry has also supported 30 young people taking advantage of the government’s Kickstart programme – a six-month paid work experience placement for 16 to 24-year-olds on Universal Credit and at risk of long-term unemployment.
What is the asset management industry doing to ensure people from all backgrounds get the same opportunities?
Having a diverse workforce is a crucial factor in ensuring businesses continue to innovate, grow and succeed. Social mobility is also hugely important for our wider society to address the current state of inequality. People from working class backgrounds who have the skills and ability should be afforded the same opportunities so they can improve their own financial wellbeing.
What are the risks associated with not prioritising social mobility?
Investment management may seem hard to get into if you haven’t gone to one of the ‘elite’ schools, colleges or universities; or have the network and connections to get your foot through the door.
What advice would you give a young person concerned about the industry’s reputation as “elitist”?
But times are changing for the better and investment management is focussed on proactively seeking people who bring different lived experiences.
The doors are open, and this is a very good time to join an industry that offers a breadth of difference career opportunities and plays such a crucial role in financing the future of our societies and economies around the world.
For working parents, the past 18 months or so have been extraordinarily challenging.
From remote working to home schooling, all via a seemingly endless stream of Zoom and Microsoft Teams calls, even those used to juggling work and childcare responsibilities have been stretched to breaking point.
And in many families, it is mothers who have borne the brunt of the extra domestic workload.
A number of asset managers now offer employees the flexibility to manage their own working patterns, including where and when they work
Here, we investigate the impact of Covid-19 restrictions on women and ask what the asset management industry is doing to help working mothers keep their careers on track post pandemic.
Statistically, there is little doubt that working women have suffered disproportionately due to Covid.
This woman’s work
Unsurprisingly, given that women typically do so much more childcare than men, many female workers were keen for a more flexible work schedule even before the global health crisis.
What women want
According to the Chartered Management Institute, 42% of women with children said that flexibility from their employer around their current needs around work was a top five priority, compared to just 28% of men with children.
And once Covid restrictions began to bite, 69% of women with children said they wanted to work at least one day from home when the pandemic ends, compared to 56% of their male counterparts.
Several big firms have also invested in the Timewise and Diversity Project “Smart Working” initiative, which aims to promote flexible working in the investment and savings industry, for example by encouraging the creation of more part-time positions that have previously been in short supply in the industry.
While such opportunities are undoubtedly likely to appeal to women, especially those with children, the overall aim aim is to develop a framework that allows employees of all kinds to prosper: a truly inclusive working environment.
Analysis from the Women’s Budget Group, for example, shows that 133,000 more women than men were furloughed in 2020.
And PwC’s research indicates that this pattern continued into 2021, as many more women were forced to work less due to the extra care burden.
In late 2020, the European Parliament also voiced concerns about the detrimental effect Covid was having on women in the workplace.
“Where people have been able to work at home, further challenges have arisen with juggling the additional care burden of children in the home and home-schooling,” it said in The gendered impact of the Covid-19 crisis and post-crisis period.
“This has meant that some parents (predominantly women) have been forced to reduce their hours or leave their jobs to be able to manage the competing demands of paid and unpaid labour.”
Offering flexible working should therefore help asset managers to retain talented women and promote gender balance, progression, and equal pay – especially at senior levels.
Asset management is not an industry that lends itself to a 100% remote working model. But with studies showing that most office-based would prefer a hybrid approach where they spend some time on site, a number of asset managers now offer employees the flexibility to manage their own working patterns, including where and when they work.
A hybrid solution
133,000
How many more women than men were furloughed in 2020
69%
Of women with children who said they wanted to work at least one day from home when the pandemic ends, compared to 56% of their male counterparts
Women’s Budget Group
Chartered Management Institute
Do you think the pandemic has had a more profound effect on working mothers than on working fathers? If so, why?
What is HSBC doing to make it easier for women to thrive in the post-Covid workplace?
Do you think hybrid working will become standard in the asset management industry long term?
•
How to break down socio-economic barriers to a career in investment management.
Social mobility barriers are not always obvious. That’s why it’s so important to have an open and honest dialogue around these issues and their impact on access, inclusion, and progression within the investment management sector. “We need leadership to speak openly about social mobility, which should be the foundation of any DE&I programme,” says Dan Rudd, Head of External Wholesale UK, Ireland & Middle East at HSBC Global Asset Management.
A better approach is to join the growing number of employers running graduate recruitment fairs and outreach events online
Supporting the career progression of existing employees is one aspect of this. But addressing social mobility as young people start their careers is also vital to the diversity of the next generation of industry leaders. So here are three ways to ensure your graduate recruitment drives attract candidates from a more varied talent pool.
Traditionally, top employers have focussed their graduate recruitment efforts on Russell Group universities such as Oxford, Cambridge, and Durham. But these universities are not the natural stamping grounds of students from lower socio-economic backgrounds. To reach a wider range of applicants, a better approach is to join the growing number of employers running graduate recruitment fairs and outreach events online. “An inability to attend or host in-person graduate recruitment events has meant going digital, thus allowing employers to reach beyond the universities they usually target,” the Social Mobility Foundation said in a recent report.
Widen your horizons
Online resources can also be a great leveller when it comes to offering graduate scheme applicants from a variety of backgrounds the same chance of success. Charitable foundation Wellcome, for example, provides tailor-made material and videos to support graduates through the application process – whatever school or university they attended.
Offer online support
Such schemes can help to close the gap between young people from poorer backgrounds and more privileged students who have often received extensive training and advice on how to apply for a job.
You can also widen your talent pool via schemes such as Investment20/20 – an industry-funded initiative designed to promote social mobility within investment management.
Its focus on ‘hiring for potential rather than polish’ has helped more than 2,000 young aspiring professionals start their careers in the industry, 85% of whom are from a state school, and 43% of whom are from ethnic minority backgrounds. Four of those individuals started at HSBC Global Asset Management in December 2021 as part of the company’s new UK Apprenticeship programme.
“We urge employers to capitalise on this moment by using digital platforms to recruit from as wide a group as possible.” Where possible, it’s also important to have business leaders showing support for candidates from different backgrounds. “The narrative could be music to the ears of those starting their careers,” Rudd adds.
Informal work experience placements are often awarded to youngsters with contacts within the industry. But offering work experience to employees’ friends and relatives only increases your chances of taking on people from similar socio-economic classes. Ways to avoid this include implementing a more stringent approach that opens up placements to all, and offering help with travel costs, which can be a major barrier for young people from poor backgrounds.
Improve work experience accessibility
2,000
young aspiring professionals start their careers in the industry
85%
of whom are from a state school
43%
of whom are from ethnic minority backgrounds
Eliminating barriers to a diverse workforce: Three ways to help end recruitment biases
First impressions count. But they can also be misleading, prompting us to pass unfair judgements based on our preconceived ideas.
According to one study, even people who are made aware of a person’s sexual orientation prior to seeing them often choose to disregard this information and base their judgement on the individual’s physical appearance instead.
In a business environment, unconscious – and in some cases conscious – bias can therefore be a major barrier to recruiting a diverse workforce.
Data is the empowerment of D&I and is essential to drive change
With training, it’s also possible to become more aware of our own biases and adjust negative thinking patterns such as stereotyping people based on their race or gender
“Unconscious, conscious, and structural biases come into play in the recruitment process, so it’s important that we are self-aware of what our biases are and take the steps to educate ourselves to ensure they don’t impact on our behaviour and decisions,” said Kate Hassey, Head of Distribution Oversight at HSBC Global Asset Management Investment Funds.
According to the Social Mobility Foundation, which supports greater inclusion for people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, quality data is crucial to the development of an unbiased recruitment process.
1. Collecting diversity data
As it’s 2021 Employer Index Report says: “Collecting data is the vital first step in creating more inclusive workplaces.”
However, with training, it’s also possible to become more aware of our own biases and adjust negative thinking patterns such as stereotyping people based on their race or gender.
It’s human nature to gravitate towards people who are similar to us, which is why it’s important for employers keen to attract female candidates to avoid male-only interview panels.
2. Offering unconscious bias training
Thanks to hi-tech diversity software programmes, there is no longer any need for human involvement in the application screening process that decides which candidates are invited for an interview.
3. Conducting “blind” screening
These programmes allow applicants to create their own online profiles and give details of their skills, interests, and career aspirations, all without revealing their name, gender, race, or socioeconomic background.
The number of employers using such software to prevent recruitment biases is growing. In 2021, the Social Mobility Foundation found that 48% of companies were recruiting this way, up from 46% in 2020 and 35% in 2019. Future-facing employers are already starting to use virtual reality to negate biases at interview level too.
Asset managers are tackling this problem in a number of ways, including by widening their hiring horizons to ensure job opportunities attract a diverse range of applicants.
Here, we highlight three approaches that can help stamp out recruitment biases.
For many employers, the best way to begin tackling recruitment biases is therefore to start collecting data that can help to identify the types of people they are failing to hire.
Unconscious bias training is therefore increasingly being accepted as an effective way to help employees in the asset management sector challenge their own preconceptions.
“A lot is being done to tackle unconscious bias in the industry through the implementation of unconscious bias training as well as D, E & I policies, initiatives and targets,” Hassey said.
“In the interview process, we always have at least one woman attending,” said Stephanie Wu, an equity portfolio manager at HSBC Global Asset Management.
Investment Association (IA) chief executive Chris Cummings agrees. “Data is the empowerment of D&I and is essential to drive change,” he added.
Women in Investment: How to progress as a leader
Some 34% of board members at FTSE 350 companies are now women, government figures show. Yet just 3% of the world’s 50 biggest asset management companies have a female chief executive officer, according to recruitment company Heidrick & Struggles.
That’s why investment Week and HSBC Asset Management focused on “How to progress as a leader” in its latest Women in Investment Career Booster Webinar.
putting yourself forward for reverse mentorship programmes is a great way to show initiative
Led by Katrina Baugh, Editor-in-Chief of Investment Week, it brought together a panel of inspirational female leaders: Sarah Soar, Chief Executive at Hawksmoor Investment Management; Ozge Usta, Head of Sustainability Delivery at HSBC Asset Management; and Liz Field, Chief Executive at the Personal Investment Management & Financial Advice Association (PIMFA).
If you want to become a leader, it’s vital to believe you have what it takes. So, the panel’s first tip for women keen to move up the corporate ladder is simply to go for it. “Put yourself forward for roles,” Soar said. “Otherwise, you could easily get overlooked.”
Believe in yourself
Asset managers have become a lot better at supporting women with children – and they are starting to improve their approach to other issues, such as the menopause. “I do think attitudes have changed an enormous amount since my children were born,” Soar said. But if you feel you are not receiving the support you need, our panellists urged positive action to change that.
Put yourself first
“If you’re a line manager of someone who is on maternity leave, don’t assume that person’s ambitions have changed. And if you feel the company you’re working for is not being supportive, maybe it’s time to look elsewhere,” Usta said.
Field, meanwhile, pointed out that working towards a more inclusive environment where women can more easily attain senior roles is a job for everyone.
Their key recommendations included putting yourself forward and taking advantage of networking, mentoring, and training opportunities.
They also advocated asking for advice from more senior colleagues and contacts. “I have asked a lot of people for advice,” Field said. “And nobody has ever said no. People generally want to help other people.”
The panel agreed that mentoring programmes are extremely useful for anyone hoping to move up into a leadership role in the future.
Listen and learn
And that even if you have only recently started working in asset management, putting yourself forward for reverse mentorship programmes is a great way to show initiative, while also learning more about the business.
You should also take advantage of any training you are offered – and ask for it if it’s not made available.
“I did a lot of observing,” Usta said. “I observed leaders around me and the different styles they had. I tried to pick up on the different attributes I liked in each leader and soak up as much information as possible from leadership training courses.”
Soar fell into asset management “by accident” and believes the key to encouraging more women to actively choose a career in the industry is marketing it to young women. “It’s a great career for women,” she said. “Let’s get people coming in because they know that.”
Spread the word
“Don’t forget about men,” she added. “We have all got a role to play.”
Women in Investment: Progressing as a fund manager
Only about one in 10 fund managers are women, but that hasn’t stopped a growing number of women making their mark at the top end of the sector.
For the first Women in Investment Career Booster Webinar on progressing as a fund manager, Investment Week asked three of them – Stephanie Wu, Global Emerging Markets Equity Portfolio Manager at HSBC Global Asset Management; Abbie Llewellyn-Waters, Head of Sustainable Investing at Jupiter Asset Management; and Olivia Maguire, Short-term Fixed Income Portfolio Manager at J.P. Morgan Asset Management – to share their advice for those keen to follow in their footsteps, as well managers looking to support the women in their teams.
Llewellyn-Waters’ other top tip for women keen to carve out a career in fund management was to start developing a track record as soon as possible.
Starting out
“You have to acknowledge that there are certain behavioural differences between men and women,” Wu said. “In the workplace, you need to be able to promote yourself.” Showing initiative is also helpful, as Llewellyn-Waters found when she joined Jupiter Asset Management in a client service role.
Later in the webinar, our panellists also discussed the support women need to progress in the fund management sector, with Wu arguing that providing access to female mentors is key to helping ambitious, talented women make the right moves.
Moving up
“Giving and receiving feedback is really important,” she said. “Women need role models, and if you go into an organisation where you can’t see anybody who looks like you then it’s going to be a struggle.”
“Whatever role you’re in, I don’t think there’s any substitution for hard work,” Maguire said. However, working hard is not always enough to be noticed; to get ahead, you also have to be prepared to push yourself forward.
As in most sectors, our panellists agreed that putting in the hours is important if you want to demonstrate you have the potential to become a fund manager.
“I started what can only be described as gate crashing the fund management morning meeting,” she said. “After about six months or so, a junior equity analyst role came up and I was lucky enough to be given a shot.”
“It’s about staying authentic and being yourself,” she added. “You’re there because of your diversity of thought and different lived experiences. And if that’s valued by everyone from senior management down then you can bring your whole self to work.”
“One of the easiest things you can do is get yourself on to an auditable paper portfolio platform that allows you to start making investment decisions from an early stage and to start creating an auditable performance track record as well,” she added. “I didn’t do that. I wish I had.”
Her recommendations for women trying to progress within the sector also included accepting that you can’t always be perfect at work and at home and recognising that outside interests can prove a valuable source of knowledge.
“It’s important to stay intellectually curious,” Wu said. “Fund management is the kind of career where you can combine the passion and the career.”
Maguire, meanwhile, urged businesses to celebrate the diversity women bring to the table, and advised young women not to feel pressured to fit in with their male colleagues.
Women in Investment: How to progress in sales and distribution
From taking opportunities to staying true to yourself, shining lights of the investment sales sector share their tips for success.
Investment sales and distribution can be a hugely rewarding area in which to build your career. But women don’t always find it easy to progress in this traditionally male-dominated space.
For Investment Week's second Women in Investment webinar in association with HSBC Global Asset Management, we therefore focussed on the opportunities and roadblocks for women working in sales and distribution, as well as the male and female managers tasked with helping them to reach their full potential.
They also advocate being brave about taking opportunities, even when you feel unsure, and speaking up for yourself to ensure your colleagues and managers recognise that you are ambitious and keen to progress.
For this discussion, led by Katrina Lloyd, Editor-in-Chief, we were delighted to be joined by Smera Ashraf, Head of Group and IFA Distribution at HSBC Global Asset Management, Selina Tyler, Head of UK Wholesale at Lombard Odier Investment Managers, and Honor Solomon, Head of Retail, EMEA at LGIM.
The three panellists all had different journeys to the top of the sales and distribution tree. While Solomon started off in an investment banking graduate scheme, Ashraf first joined the investment industry in a temping role.
Gather a wide range of experience
“After university I started temping at Fidelity Investments,” Ashraf said. “I stayed in the industry because I was fascinated by the different products… and I felt there was a huge opportunity in this space.”
She believes working in different areas, notably business strategy, gave her a good grounding for eventually moving into sales a few years ago.
All our panellists agree that it’s important to glean what you can from role models and mentors, both internally and in the industry as a whole. “It is critical to learn from the people around you,” Tyler said.
Make your ambitions known
“Product knowledge is absolutely critical now,” she said. “We have to be useful to clients.”
However, she also thinks that to excel in a sales or relationship management role, “you have to naturally enjoy being around people and talking to people.”
Here’s a round-up of their top tips for women keen to emulate their success.
“I was very nervous of moving into a sales role, but I really enjoy it because sales for me is working with people and finding solutions, which are all things I did in my previous roles,” Ashraf added.
“I would encourage people to always be very vocal about how they see their career developing,” Solomon added. “So, at your appraisals talk about where you want to be in a year, three years, five years and work with your manager on how you can make that happen.”
Tyler believes strongly in the value of qualifications such as the Investment Management Certificate, as well as a having a good grasp of the products you are selling.
Be yourself
Other qualities all our panellists look for when interviewing include authenticity – or staying true to yourself – and the ability to work with a team.
“I think if you’ve got the passion and the desire and the commitment, you can learn the rest,” Ashraf said. “Someone who works well in a team and brings the team together is really, really key.”
Smera – 11.25 “After university…” to 12.27 “…very transferable.” Honor – 29.32 “When I’m interviewing…” to 30.52 “…for a sales person.” Smera – 33.08 “I look for…” to 34.36 “…really, really key.” Selina – 37.00 “In terms of…” to 38.54 “…the playing field.” Honor – 40.01 “At appraisals, talk about…” to 41.25 “…of both sides.” Selina – 43.02 “In terms of qualifications…” to 45.24 “…talking to people.” Honor – 54.49 “I would say…” to 56.14 “…practical tip there.”
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