DFMs worse than asset managers on gender pay

Companies with 250 staff or more are this year required by law to release information on their gender pay gap by 4 April 2018.

Portfolio Adviser combed the online government database for relevant firms and crunched the numbers on 37 asset managers that have published data and 15 wealth management firms that were forced to reveal their number.

While women at fund groups are paid on average 29.5% less than male staff at wealth management firms the gender pay gap is over 50% higher with women paid 40.9% less than their male colleagues on average.

Wealth manager and employee benefits specialist Mattioli Woods was one of the worst offenders, with men earning 71% more than women on average and men receiving bonuses that were 90% higher than their female colleagues.

However, Hargreave Hale, now owned by Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management, has the dishonour of having the biggest gender pay disparity, with male staff earning 81.82% more than female employees on average. This means women earn 18.2p for every £1 men earn.

The mean bonus pay for men was 93.1% higher than for women.

Their pay gap is close to double the highest mean gap in the asset management industry where Nomura and Investec Asset Management tied for the highest mean gap of 48.8%. Standard Life Investments has the second highest gap of 47%.

However, wealth manager Smith & Williamson Investment Management reported the lowest gap of all the firms Portfolio Adviser considered at 8%, while its wealth manager parent company, had a 12.95% mean gap.

Despite being the worst offender in the wealth and asset management space, Hargreave Hale said in its pay gap report, published just hours before the deadline on 4 April, its own gap reflected the “trend seen across the whole industry which points to the high concentration of men in client-facing investment and fund management roles”.

Hargreave Hale said where it has comparative roles employing both genders in the same region “the gender pay gap improves considerably”. It added that across its administrative staff, women earn 8.81% more than men, on a median basis.

In a statement on Wednesday, Canaccord Genuity said it was already considering measures to address Hargreave Hale’s gender pay gap as the firms integrate over the next two years.

Women on top

Every firm attributed a lack of women in senior roles as the main reason for its current pay gap.

At worst offender Hargreave Hale, for example, only 3% of the 125 female employees at the firm are in its highest-quartile remuneration bracket.

While gender parity at the board level did not necessarily result in a reduced gender pay gap with Mattioli Woods, noted above as one of the worst offenders, having three female members in its six-person board. Jupiter, one of the few asset managers with equal representation on its board, has a mean pay gap of 38%.

Alleviating this problem will require action on the part of both companies and the government, notes CBI director-general Carolyn Fairbairn.

She says: “Gender pay gap reporting is an opportunity for businesses to drive change in their workplaces. For the first time, every larger firm will know the average pay difference between men and women in their company.  What gets measured gets changed – helping to develop more inclusive workplaces and support more women into senior roles.

“Businesses can’t close the gap by themselves,” she continues. “Many of the causes of the gender pay gap lie outside the workplace, and will require a partnership between companies and Government if we are to deliver long-term, lasting change.”