Building diverse cultures a work in progress
Print
Despite efforts by investment managers and other financial services firms to improve diversity, the industry still is not where it needs to be.
Executives no longer need to explain the thesis behind creating diverse teams particularly in terms of bringing cognitive diversity to investment but statistics show more work needs to be done, panelists said on a roundtable discussion among senior women in the finance industry, organized by
Pensions & Investments.
Research by the CFA Institute, which has dedicated resources to the topic of gender diversity, shows that female representation among positions at the core of the investment management industry CEO, CIO, portfolio managers and research analysts hovers at 15% and below. And so we still have a long way to go on that, said Margaret Franklin, Toronto-based president and CEO of the institute.
Pensions fill a fixed income sized hole with alternatives Wednesday, February 17, 2021
Bailey McCann, Opalesque New York:
Pension funds continue to shift toward alternatives, according to a new study from pension consultants Willis Towers Watson. In 2000, just 7% of pension fund assets in developed economies were allocated to private markets and other alternatives, that number now stands at 26%.
The shift comes largely at the expense of equities, down from 60% to 43%. Bond allocations have also fallen marginally from 31% to 29%. The average allocation now sits at equities 43%, bonds 29%, alternatives 26% and cash 2%.
Marisa Hall, co-head of the Thinking Ahead Institute at Willis Towers Watson says that the trend toward alternatives is positive overall. This paints a picture of a resilient industry in good health and relatively well placed to weather the effects - economic and otherwise - of the ongoing pandemic, she said.