ShareAction Targets Fund Groups Over GPGs And Diversity Failings - Reports

Responsible investment charity ShareAction has quizzed Schroders, Man Group, Standard Life Aberdeen and Jupiter on how the firms plans to eradicate the disparity, according to the FT.

Asset management gender pay gap 'worse than last year'

Catherine Howarth, chief executive of ShareAction, said: "The asset management industry has a particularly poor record on the gender pay gap, and gender diverse investment teams produce better results for clients. We want to see the best decision-making."

Legislation introduced in April 2017 requires UK companies with 250 or more employees to publish their GPG on an annual basis in a move to tackle workplace discrimination.

The GPG is the difference between the average earnings of men and women, expressed relative to men's earnings. It does not show the differences in pay for similar jobs, as equal pay is a legal requirement under the 1970 Equal Pay Act, but is a proxy for measuring the way an organisation is structured.

Investment Week analysis in April revealed mixed results for the UK as a whole. While the overall mean GPG for all companies that reported fell from 14.5% in 2017/2018 to 12.7% in the most recent figures, the financial services sector continues to have the largest mean pay gap and bonus gap in favour of men of any industry.

In the latest results, the pay gap for the sector remained at the 2017/2018 level of 26% and the bonus gap stood at 47%, up from 45.7% last year.

The number of asset and wealth management entities that reported in the previous year also fell from 35 to 32, amid allegations of companies across the economy restructuring businesses or transferring staff to avoid being obliged to report.

Additionally, there were claims firms were ditching reporting altogether under the perception they will not face repercussions.

According to the Investment Association, its members have a median GPG of 31%, higher than the 28% pay gap for financial services in general.

Meanwhile, women are estimated to represent just 10% of active portfolio fund managers globally, with 9% of funds domiciled in the UK run by a female manager.

ShareAction has asked some of the asset management sector's largest firms if they have published an action plan, detailing how they intend to close their GPG.

The organisation also enquired as to how many women the firms employ as portfolio managers and how many investment teams had more than 30% female membership, adding firms should publicly disclose diversity information.

ShareAction has also targeted St James's Place and Prudential, and is set to ask questions at the annual meetings of Legal & General and Aviva before the end of the month.