Why investment management remains a male dominated workplace

James Connington 9 August 2017 • 9:38am

Exception: Jenna Barnard co-manages £6bn of savers' funds at Janus Henderson Credit: Henderson

There is an overwhelming likelihood that your pension, Isas and other investments are being overseen by men. And, far from women gaining ground in the fund management business, they are in fact becoming increasingly rare, the latest data suggests.

Out of 1,400 fund managers in Britain just 67 women run funds alone or in female-only teams. By comparison, 1,176 men operate alone or in male-only teams, with the remaining managers working in mixed teams.

Globally, out of the £11 trillion in money under management looked at, more than £8 in every £10 is run by a man or an all male team.

In the UK, women fund managers run only 6pc of the money in funds, according to the report from specialist publisher Citywire.

The situation in the UK appears to be getting worse too, as the percentage of women fund managers has declined over the past year.

The report found that there was no significant difference in performance to explain the split.

Fund group M&G’s chief executive Anne Richards, quoted in the report, said that when she speaks to women leaving the fund management industry, the reason is “99 times out of 100” to escape the “lad culture”.

Another factor cited is a "lack of change at the top", perpetuated by the existing dominance men hold over the industry.

When women become fund managers, they are typically entrusted with less money than men. The average fund run by women or teams of women is £306m, compared to £496m for male managers, as women operate “most prominently in niche or smaller market sectors...as if they've deliberately been given smaller funds to run", the report stated.

“Male fund managers are entrusted with more mainstream strategies, while we found that only very few women single-handedly run funds of considerable size," Citywire concluded.

Mark Burgess, of fund group Columbia Threadneedle, said that "the problem is not the job itself but one of perception".

In a report on the gender divide, he said that fund management is "tarred with the same brush" as finance in general, in terms of hours, social value and difficulty in taking a career break.

In reality, he said that hours can be naturally limited by market opening times, the team-based approach to fund management can offer flexibility, and technology supports working remotely.

Both reports suggested that greater diversity can enhance fund performance, due to introducing different ways of thinking.

Mr Burgess said: "Women are arguably better risk managers, focus more on downside protection and stick to their investment choices through market turbulence. We have seen that mixed team results generally trump the performance of single-sex managed funds."

View from the inside

Carolyn Chan, a fund manager at Liontrust, spent the first part of her career in Singapore. There, 25pc to 30pc of fund managers she dealt with were female, she said.

"They would be heads or co-heads of teams at major firms. When I moved to England in 2005, there was a stark contrast - only a few per cent were women, and that ratio hasn't changed since," she said.

In Singapore, she explained that there are major tax incentives for women to go back to work after having children.

Carolyn Chan, co-manager of Liontrust Asian Income Credit: Liontrust

By comparison, she said: "In the UK, the amount of juggling required in terms of affordability and access to decent childcare precludes many from high level professional fields post-children."

She sees education as a main barrier: "The industry also has to become more accessible through internships and summer work programmes.

"In America, there are far more opportunities through those routes. In the UK, it's nearly impossible to get an internship, and those that exist are intensely competitive. The industry needs to open up and give more back."

Successful female managers

While they remain the exception, there are a number of women who have high-profile fund management careers.

Examples include Jenna Barnard (pictured, top), co-manager of a raft of funds from asset manager Janus Henderson Investors, totalling £6bn.

Another example is Sarah Whiteley, who has run the £600m Baillie Gifford Japan Trust since 1991, and is co-manager of the firm's £1.8bn Japanese fund.

Julie Dean of TM Sanditon previously ran Schroder UK Opportunities, and her departure from the asset manager in 2014 to join TM Sanditon led to billions of pounds in outflows.