Asset managers struggling to shake off macho image

Scotland's fund managers are finding it hard to recruit enough women.

Talented women are being put off careers in fund management because asset management firms are still failing to do enough to differentiate themselves from the testosterone-fuelled, long-hours culture synonymous with some areas of the investment banking world.

Scottish asset management firm Baillie Gifford has been actively trying to increase the number of women fund managers it hires, even going so far as to sponsor a women's rowing team at Cambridge.

Even so, says head of HR Stephen Leach, still only around a fifth of candidates to its graduate programmes are women, with a similarly small percentage going on to become fund managers.

"The only reason we can put our finger on is that we think the graduate market in general doesn't distinguish between asset management and other areas of investment banking," he says.

"Graduates probably think about asset management in the same ways as trading and M&A, both of which are often perceived to have extremely long hours and macho attitudes," he adds.

However, one positive is that there are now more high-flying female fund manager role models in Scotland - people such as Katherine Garrett-Cox, now at Alliance Trust, and Anne Richards at Aberdeen Asset Management - says Nicholas Furse at recruiter Odgers, Ray & Berndston.

"There are some quite strong role models in Scotland. My sense is that more women are joining the industry. It is one of those sectors where intellectual firepower is indiscriminate in its gender," he says.

"Companies are also becoming better at accommodating flexible working, as the period when a lot of women are wanting to accelerate their careers is also just when they are wanting to start a family," he adds.