Top women bankers tell students about glass ceiling

Women in financial services still face an uphill struggle if they want to reach the top.

This was the message from a panel of successful female financiers at a packed finance forum at the London Business School's annual 'Women In Business' conference.

Four out of the five panelists, who included Susan Kilsby, co-head of European M&A at Credit Suisse First Boston, and Katherine Garrett-Cox, CIO at Aberdeen Asset Management, said they had encountered a 'glass ceiling' during their careers.

They said the number of women in senior positions at their organisations reflected the difficulties that women face.

Kilsby was the only woman among about 15 members of the investment banking management committee. Garrett-Cox said she had no direct female report at Aberdeen Asset Management and that of 105 fund managers globally at the company, only 8 were women.

Ellen Miller, a former executive director in debt capital markets at Lehman Brothers, said that only 5% of Lehman's managing directors were women.

Nor do attempts to remedy the problem akways seem to work. Garrett-Cox said that Aberdeen Asset Management had launched a women's graduate recruitment programme. Despite its efforts, it still had zero female applicants last year.