DFMs worse than asset managers on gender pay

Women at wealth management firms are worse off than their female counterparts at fund groups when it comes to remuneration, being paid 59p for every £1 men earn on average, compared to 70p for every £1 in the asset management industry.

DFMs worse than asset managers on gender pay

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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.

Mean pay gap (%) Median pay gap (%)
Bestinvest 42.1 31.3
Brewin Dolphin 38.2 40.7
Brooks Macdonald 38.2 42
Brown Shipley 44.2 30.5
Hargreave Hale (now owned by Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management) 81.82 63.72
Charles Stanley 34.8 31.9
Coutts & Co 28.2 24.4
Investec Wealth & Investment 47.2 50.8
Mattioli Woods 71 17
Quilter Cheviot 45 45
Rathbone Brothers 46.5 47.2
SG Kleinwort Hambros 25.6 36
Smith & Williamson IM 8.48 13.58
UBS AG 31 25
Wellington Managemeent 30.7 44.7
Average 40.87 36

 

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.”

 

Mean pay gap (%) Median pay gap (%)
Aberdeen Asset Management 37 37
Alliance Trust Savings 26 19
Allianz Global Investors 23 31
Aviva Investors 23.8 21
Axa Investment Managers 29.7 27.2
Baillie Gifford & Co 23.3 17.9
Baring Asset Management 23 29
Blackrock 17 23
Columbia Threadneedle Investments 29.1 25.4
F&C Asset Management 34 34
Fidelity International 23.4 25.4
First State Investment Services 33.7 30.8
Franklin Templeton Global Investors 19.4 20.4
Hargreaves Lansdown Asset Management 28.8 18.3
Hermes Fund Managers 30.2 24.4
HSBC GAM 40 39
Invesco UK 40 30
Investec Asset Management 48.8 43.4
Janus Henderson 36.9 32.7
JPMorgan Asset Management 28 22
Jupiter Asset Management 38 25
Kames Capital 42.9 40.3
Legal & General Asset Management 21 21.4
M&G 32.2 32
Man Group 21.4 27.5
Newton Investment Management 18 20
Nomura International 48.8 36.9
Octopus Capital 38.1 40.3
Old Mutual Global Investors 29 31
Pictet Asset Management 29 31
Pimco Europe 25 39
Schroders 27 28.9
Standard Life Investments 47 37
State Street Global Advisors 18.1 11.8
T.Rowe Price 36.8 34.1
Vanguard Asset Services 30.1 23.9
Average 30.49 28.95