Asset managers have been urged to stop ‘talking the talk’ and instead ‘walk the walk’ on the issue of equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI).
Although some progress has been made it was not enough, according to a panel of industry experts at the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association’s (PLSA) annual investment conference in Edinburgh.
During the session 'Driving EDI: Why you have to get it right?' Gavin Lewis, managing director at BlackRock said: “The death of George Floyd in 2020 was a social and political reckoning which resulted in commitments from organisations, institutions and public figures around the lack of racial diversity.
“It did feel like we were at a point of inflection.”
Initiatives including the Hampton Alexander review, now FTSE Women Leaders and the Park Review had helped decrease the diversity of boards over the last four years.
But he said away from boards the picture was different.
He said: “Away from boards and looking at the c-suite. I have to say the representation is still very poor.
Lewis said: “[Anecdotally] many are still having a very poor experience.”
Lewis also expressed concern of a backlash which could be addressed by having more open and honest conversations within the industry.
Diversity and the kinks in the hosepipe
Steve Butler, managing director at Pension Potential said members of the Diversity Project, set up to support EDI among asset managers, had grown from 60 to 111, and now represented £3.8trn assets under management.
This had still not translated into great progress. He said: “It [DEI] is pretty much on everyone’s radar but the disappointing thing is the dial has not moved around women fund managers.
He said: “The asset management firm has acted to remove the kinks in the hosepipe to get diverse talent moving into the industry.”
Skills programmes aimed at getting female fund analysts into fund management roles were progressing but endemic evidence of sexism remained an ongoing issue.
“We [Diversity Project] established the safe space hotline for someone to contact Helena Morrissey directly and we have had 23 reports of incidents [to the hotline] that shouldn’t have happened in the last year.”
Rewarding poor management
Sarah Smart, chair of The Pensions Regulator, told delegates after 25 years of being in the industry, and 20 years of being a professional trustee she believed she was “finally at the age people told me I needed to be to be taken seriously”.
She said: “I have been fortunate enough to come across people who were brave enough to see the potential in me.”
Smart said her own experience had shown her asset managers and pension companies must be open minded when recruiting.
“If someone has shown they have the skills but not necessarily the experience that [recruitment] is what we need to happen.”
Smart said she once recruited someone with no investment experience, they had previously worked in nappy product development. She said: “There were brilliant at the job.”
