Empowering Women – diversity is key

More frequently than ever, women are returning to work after having children and juggling a work life balance. However, despite a lot of companies offering flexible working arrangements, there still remains a lack of women working in the financial sector…

According to the FCA, within the wealth management industry only 16% of regulated staff within investment management firms were women last year and only 17.3% of FTSE 100 directors are female, reducing to only 13.2% for FTSE 250 companies. Despite these figures, according to ‘McKenzie’, companies with all female Boards of Directors outperform their peers.

We are extremely proud of where we are placed in the market with regard to the ratio of men and women in the workplace.

A recent Citywire study showed that Charles Stanley & Co are ranked in the top tier out of 19 companies within our sector. We committed to increase our female representation at senior management level from 28% to 30%, and we met our target two and a half years early. Under the Women in Wealth initiative we had a target of 40% female new hires and last year we exceeded this with 48% of hires being women.

In the Oxford office, we are proud to have a diverse workforce with a ratio of 1:1 of men and women and with an age range of 21-60. With our current ratio we are able to match the right client with the right investment manager. Sometimes it’s easier for women to discuss personal circumstances with other women, and we are fortunate that we have a female investment manager. We also have two female trainee investment managers and we want to continue to encourage women to pursue a career in wealth management.

As a forward thinking office, we have piloted a series of women only seminars. The aim is to promote informative discussions held in a roundtable style made for a very relaxed atmosphere where a range of topics could be explored.

For us diversity is important, not only in the people who work for us but also in being able to empower and meet the needs of a wide range of clients. To ensure that we are meeting our client’s needs as effectively as possible we have recently integrated a financial planning team into the Oxford office.

To find out more about Charles Stanley’s services please contact office manager Ria Shepheard.

ria.shepheard@charles-stanley.co.uk | 01865 987485 | www.charles-stanley.co.uk

 

The value of investments can fall as well as rise. Investors may get back less than invested. Charles Stanley & Co. Limited, is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.