“There is very much a perception among young women that this is not necessarily an industry for them,” says Investec fund manager Deidre Cooper.
“If you want to sum it up they say investment management is the Wolf of Wall Street. And it’s so not. It’s a bunch of nerdy people like me that like to analyse numbers and read long reports.” Nobody is shouting buys or sells into phones, Cooper (pictured) says.
Currently just 105 UK-domiciled open-ended funds are run by women compared to 1,496 in the entire universe, according to Morningstar data from 2019. More funds are run by managers called David or Dave, the research house noted.
Fund management versus investment banking
Cooper started out in mergers and acquisitions at Morgan Stanley having fallen into finance after studying mathematics at University College Ireland.
She describes investment banking as “a difficult career to manage as a mother” because of the time demands set by external clients, whereas investment management involves a lot of in-depth research that makes the hours more flexible.
Rathbones fund manager Alexandra Jackson, who says her University of Durham economics degree meant “something in finance was probably always on the cards”, also got her first taste of the City in investment banking.
“I did work experience at a Swiss bank aimed at trying to get more women into the industry,” Jackson says. “They called it an outreach programme so you can probably get a sense of what that was like and that really put me off.
“Eventually, I ended up meeting with a recruiter and she said ‘Oh my gosh, there are so many more roles than investment banking’ and I’d just had no idea. I think asset management is like the quiet little sister, which is essentially a bit less showy and racy, but has a real social good to it.”
The City isn’t as aggressive as The Wolf of Wall Street
The Rathbones UK Opportunities fund manager similarly views the hours in investment management as much more family friendly than some other parts of the City, noting the industry is output rather than hours based.
“That’s not just about women. Millennial men in my office want to spend time with their families too,” she says.
She welcomes the London Stock Exchange consultation in conjunction with other European exchanges on reducing trading hours. The Association for Financial Markets in Europe (AFME) and the Investment Association (IA) have been campaigning to reduce trading hours by 90 minutes to seven hours a day.
But Jackson also highlights that pop culture presents finance as an aggressive, male-dominated industry, noting there aren’t many professional women in the Wolf of Wall Street. “They’re the girlfriends or mistresses, which is kind of bleak.”
Aberdeen Standard Investments fund manager Abby Glennie agrees the industry is not as aggressive as the movie industry makes out.
“The Wolf of Wall Street hasn’t helped or The Big Short – that was all men,” Glennie says. “I’m sure there are some places that are more aggressive than others, or even some teams or departments that are more male dominated.
“I definitely notice when I go to external events that I feel like the minority, whereas I never feel like that at work.”
Glennie was promoted last month to deputy head of the nine-strong smaller companies team, which includes six female investment professionals.
Arts graduates shouldn’t be put off an investment career
While Glennie graduated from the University of Aberdeen with economics and finance, she says it’s important to note skills required to be a successful fund manager extend beyond numeracy.
“You need social skills for one because one of the most important parts of our investment process is meeting companies. So, I think being able to challenge management teams and have an ongoing conversation is really important.”
Baillie Gifford fixed income manager Lucy Isles thought she was going to end up in the civil service after graduating from the University of St Andrews with international relations and modern history. “But then I got introduced to Baillie Gifford and I just loved the expansive nature of the role.”
Isles says: “You’re looking at hydroelectricity in Brazil one week and then renewables or the global recycling trend or the chocolate industry the next. It’s just so different and you build up such a niche knowledge of so many different areas. I find that really intoxicating.”
Jupiter Merlin fund manager Amanda Sillars, who graduated with art history and initially worked in a gallery, is similarly happy with her career path.
“I became interested in the industry when I suddenly discovered how incredibly intellectually challenging it was,” Sillars says.
“I remember sitting on the telephone, aged 27, and talking to a friend about eight o’clock at night about drilling mud. And after about half an hour we were laughing about how we should be going out and having drinks with our friends rather than being absorbed in a discussion about horizontal drilling versus vertical drilling in the basin in Mexico.”
Creating a pipeline of female talent
Several fund managers Portfolio Adviser spoke to were part of initiatives to get more women into the investment industry.
Cooper is on the advisory board of Girls who Invest, founded by New York Retirement Systems CIO Seema Hingorani to encourage more women into portfolio management and executive leadership roles in asset management.
While 38% of the UK funds industry is female, only 11% of asset managers surveyed by the Investment Association in 2019 had a CEO or chair who was a woman.
Rathbones is a co-sponsor of She Can Be, an initiative from the Lord Mayor’s office, whereby it invites 16 and 17-year-old girls to its offices and explains what it is like to work in the investment industry and how their skills might match various roles, says Jackson. Around 25 other financial institutions across the City and Canary Wharf take part.
“The whole point is to bust some myths and say to these girls, ‘You might not necessarily think it for whatever reason, but these careers are accessible to you. It’s a really fulfilling, really rewarding career’.”
ESG could be a good hook to get more women interested in asset management
Cooper runs the Global Environment Strategy at Investec and thinks responsible investment could be a good hook to get more women into the industry – a sentiment echoed by City Hive founder Bev Shah.
“I grew up in Ireland and when I graduated university unemployment was 20% and people just wanted a job,” Cooper says. “Now people want a job with a purpose that they can feel like they’re doing something aligned with their personal values. Investment management isn’t seen as that, but it really should be.”
As an example, she points out $2.4trn is needed for the global transition to a low-carbon economy, the theme around which the Oeic and Sicav funds she runs with Graeme Baker are based.
“The investment management industry needs to do this. No one else holds the purse strings. Therefore, a job in this industry actually has the potential to be enormously impactful.”
