Speaking to Australian media from the US, State Street Global Advisors vice president and head of practice management for the global SPDR business Brie Williams said closing the gender gap should be a “business imperative”.
“The fact is that companies that practice gender and cultural diversity, and sustain that culture of inclusiveness, grow in their effectiveness,” she said.
“What they’re able to do is secure the best talent, they make better strategic decisions, they produce more relevant products and services that mirror the market, and as a result they achieve superior financial results for their firm, as well as for their clients.”
Ms Williams said a failure to correct the gender imbalance and subsequent loss of diversity of thought would present the industry with “some serious consequences”, including a reduced talent pool, loss of competitive advantage and a limited ability to meet client needs.
“As an industry we’ve recognised that advisers must be drawn from a larger, more diverse pool, but thus far it’s done little to hold itself accountable for change,” she said.
“To effect serious change and address the lack diversity, we need male and female leaders to acknowledge the problem of gender bias.”
Integra Financial Services director and former AFA Deborah Kent added that current advisers should look to support female staff (including those in administrative positions who may be interested in becoming advisers) into more senior roles.
“Please identify women in your business and ask them – tap them on the shoulder, see what their career path is, and assist them in having the confidence to move to that next level,” Ms Kent said.
“Give them the flexibility, as you would men, to take the issue of ‘how am I going to do this’ out, encourage them to go out and network, find a mentor, and work with them to build them up.”
Ms Kent, who is a former AFA national president and currently serves as the only practising adviser on the FASEA board, said practices should look to implement internal programs to help women’s professional development.
Public record of B P Williams
– BA in Journalism, MA in Marketing (no Business or law degree)
– Has passed US series 7 pre 2018 ($350 cost, 250 multiple choice questions online assessment as 2 x 3 hour exams, closed book)
– Has passed series 63 exams
– A Broker under US law CRD#: 5356245 and BrokerCheck US (similar to our FAR) says “Individuals who work for broker-dealers – the sales personnel are commonly referred to as brokers”
– NOT an Investment Adviser (IA) according to BrokerCheck US
– Current role since 2014 is to “Partner with wealth management firms to share best-in-class business development and client engagement strategies to help improve outcomes for financial advisors – and more importantly, help individual investor achieve financial life goals”
Stipulating quotas for how gender or any other type of diversity is only paying lip-service to the issue. We want advisers who do good work and want to be in the industry. Offering mentoring, further education and family-friendly work environments are what we have to strive for if we want to encourage women and minorities into the financial services industry.