According to the latest survey carried out by CFA UK, diversity and inclusion (D&I) in the investment profession lags behind all other finance services.
In fact, over one-third (35%) respondents said that D&I is ‘worse’ in investment than any other financial sector, says the UK membership body representing 12,000-plus investment professionals. The survey identified gender pay gap, representation at board/top executive level and work/life balance to be the most pressing D&I issues for the profession. Investment professionals particularly want to see improvements from their own firms in socio-economic inclusion (42%) and mental wellbeing (39%).
The annual CFA survey, which measures member views, reveals that the investment industry still needs to make significant progress in D&I. Around 51% feel that progress is needed to create a more inclusive culture, reiterating similar findings from the last two years, indicating that little headway has been made to date.
WIDE-SPREAD TRAINING NEED
The results additionally revealed a widespread need for further D&I training cross the profession. More than half of its members (57%) said they have not done any D&I training, with one-third expressing interest in learning more about the implementation of diversity strategies.
Commenting on the results of the survey, Will Goodhart, Chief Executive of CFA UK, stated: “Investment professionals continue to identify issues around inclusion and diversity year after year and more must be done to address this. We cannot allow the investment sector to trail behind other areas of financial services in making progress.”
Interestingly, this year’s results revealed that men and women hold different views on some of these issues. “Notably, 58% of the women who participated in the survey feel that progress is needed in improving the gender pay gap, compared with only 27% of men; the figures for improving board representation are likewise split at 49% and 33% respectively,” he added.
DIVERSITY MANDATE
The proportion of investment professionals who have not undergone any kind of D&I training is also surprisingly high, noted Goodhart: “Recently, we’ve seen the FCA increasing its own diversity mandate and it is clear that the authority expects firms to do the same. Improving training on these issues is a good place for firms to start as they look to build more inclusive and diverse teams.”
Responding to the survey results, Juliet Bullick, Global Head of Consultant Relations, Fidelity International and Chair of the CFA UK Inclusion & Diversity Network, commented: “Our Inclusion & Diversity Network has been working hard this year to highlight the benefits of both gender balance and socio-economic inclusion to the asset management industry, and I am delighted that our recent survey shows that CFA UK members continue to support this broadening agenda. We will look to expand our areas of focus in line with member feedback, to include areas such as mental wellbeing, to continue to promote the sector as an inclusive place to build careers all the way from CFA candidate to C-suite.”
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