As diversity efforts persist in the investment management industry, a new report by the Financial Services Council (FSC) finds female representation in portfolio management and analyst roles has improved in 2024, although the figure dipped in the C-suite.
The FSC’s latest Women in Investment Management Survey, conducted by Storniolo Consulting, surveyed 18 global and domestic fund managers representing a broad range of funds management businesses, finding women make up 27 per cent of investment teams in Australia.
While this figure has remained relatively steady over the past two years (29 per cent in 2023 and 27 per cent in 2022), it underscores the ongoing challenge of achieving greater gender diversity in the sector.
Representation in areas like portfolio management improved, rising from 18 per cent to 23 per cent, and a significant increase was observed in women in analyst roles, growing from 41 per cent to 75 per cent.
“Growing women participation in investment management teams remains a focus for the industry.
“Funds are considering ways to make their teams more diverse, and this survey is designed to assist them on this journey, but the industry acknowledges there is still a long way to go,” said FSC chief executive Blake Briggs.
Particularly, this year’s survey noted a dip, however, in the proportion of women in chief investment officer (CIO) roles, which dropped dramatically from 11 per cent to just 2 per cent.
In terms of diversity efforts, funds have been taking active steps to improve this in their teams, Briggs noted, such as investing in school and university education programs to foster a pipeline of talent. A number of managers are offering summer intern programs to attract more women to the industry and they are presenting at student university career days.
Others, like Blackwattle Investment Partners, have launched mentorship programs to help experienced female professionals transition into the investment management sector.
Still, such efforts have achieved mixed results thus far, the survey observed.
While some funds have been able to offer graduates a role in their teams, others found that team turnover is low, presenting fewer opportunities to bring on diverse talent.
It also noted gender diversity efforts could impact a manager’s research rating, explaining: “Where an investment management team is small, there is limited chance to change the gender balance when there is high tenure and or without impacting tenure numbers, and also because stable or high tenure numbers is something rating/research houses heavily scrutinised and which may impact an investment manager’s rating.”
Earlier this year, research from Future IM/Pact suggested the proportion of female portfolio managers has seen a decrease in the last seven years, declining from 23 per cent in 2017 to 19 per cent in 2024.
Some 63 per cent of all appointments and 67 per cent of promotions are men, it noted.
Measuring outcomes
According to the survey, the majority (94 per cent) of organisations track gender diversity statistics in their investment management teams.
Some 72 per cent have set formal diversity targets for their organisation, marking an improvement from 56 per cent in 2023, while 83 per cent have expectations, KPIs or linkages to remuneration in place for leaders and managers related to diversity and inclusion.
Of those who have set a formal target for their investment team, 39 per cent are near or making strong progress, or have met their target.
“The survey highlights there are investment managers who are leading the way for diversity, including gender diversity, and it’s not necessarily just the bigger, most well-resourced funds that are doing the most,” remarked Cecilia Storniolo, managing director at Storniolo Consulting.
“Funds of all sizes have varying programs and metrics they are using to track diversity, and this survey contributes to the literature, allowing funds to benchmark themselves against other Australian businesses.”
