Rebranding to attract the next generation of female advisers

Speaking at the Stockbrokers and Investment Advisers Association (SIAA) annual conference in Melbourne last week, a panel headed by LGT Crestone’s chief operating officer, Michelle Inns, discussed the disparity between the number of men and women working within advice and the issues keeping women out.

Morgan Stanley’s head of wealth management, Australia, Rebecca Hill said long-term strategies are needed to encourage more women into the profession.

“We do have that gap. I don’t think it’s insurmountable but there’s no short-term solution. We do have to, as an industry, work together around that and be more creative, think about different career pathways in. I think part of the challenge is structural,” Hill said.

Inns added: “To make change is going to take a long time. We really need to take a long-term view around this and then, of course, there’s the day-to-day cut and thrust of operating profitable businesses as well.”

Wilsons Advisory chief executive Brad Gale highlighted the need to develop focus programs to entice more women into advice and drive change.

“I think it actually starts at a graduate level and it moves through to senior levels, where role modelling is really important. I think we have some really great role models in our industry, with regard to women, we just need more in and we have some structural challenges with regard to that,” Gale said.

“We need to embrace the development of young talent, we need to commit to have far more equal, if not equal, or outsize recruitment programs of females to males.

“And that way, the generational change can happen, but I think there’s a lot of learning that we can take from other professional service firms.”

Kate Galvin, chief executive of Victorian Funds Management Corporation, said her practice invests in educating its male senior staff on why it’s important to empower more women to work in advice and, in turn, boost the gender balance within the workforce.

“The change is going to come from the senior advisers, who we know are 80 per cent male, and the leaders of all these businesses, who we know are probably 80 per cent male, actually being convinced that this is the right thing to do because it makes for better workplaces but also because we’re going to capture the generational wealth change,” Galvin said.

“Because I’ll tell you right now, my daughter is not going to care what the sex of her adviser is but she will notice if she never meets a female one.”

Education for the next generation of female advisers

Looking at the education of young women, Hill said the issue needs to be addressed at a high school level, encouraging more girls to take up maths and finance classes.

“We’re now seeing the female enrolments and completion within business and commerce has dropped off over the last 10 years. And that is concerning,” Hill said.

“I think we may have an opportunity to start educating back within high schools and encouraging girls to take those subjects be that commerce, economics, accounting, and having them understand what a great career path this is.

“I think for girls entering the industry, they do want that more service element, they want that connection just as much and I think if they realised that the clients are looking for that, I think we’re going to see an opportunity to attract more but it definitely takes investment from us to do that.”

Galvin added that advice is often seen as too money focused, and although that is an important part of the job, it is also a profession that yields a meaningful impact on its clients. She said that shifting that perception could draw more women towards the profession.

“Talking about the meaningful nature of this work, I think the problem that the wealth part of the industry has is it feels a little bit like everyone’s there because they’re interested in money,” Galvin said.

“But actually understanding money and the impact it has on your life and the opportunities it provides to you is incredibly meaningful work. And I think that’s the gap that’s missing for me.

“I just think there’s a perception problem that could be fixed if we have more of us out there talking about why this is meaningful work, rather than just something that’s interesting and you can make a lot of money.”