Women's Day Special: Celebrating female CIOs in asset management
In the lead-up to International Women's Day on March 8, AsianInvestor spoke to a host of exceptional women in asset management across the region.
The global asset management industry is still highly male-dominated, yet there are some women who have made it to key leadership roles despite several challenges along the way.
Different paths, inspirations and philosophies have brought these women to where they are today. They are agents of change, and they exemplify empowerment, resilience and an industry undergoing deep transformation.
Today, we highlight four women of influence in the investments industry. This is the second story in a three-part series.
The asset management industry has been making concerted efforts to get more women in investment roles in recent years.
Those efforts are three-pronged, focusing on recruitment, retention, and recognition.
AsianInvestor spoke to some influential women CIOs in the Asia Pacific who acknowledged that greater efforts are being made towards recruiting more women, both at graduate and experienced hires levels.
DWS
“Companies are now also paying attention to how they can improve retention and recognition efforts,” Ivy Ng, chief investment officer in Asia Pacific at DWS, told AsianInvestor.
QUANTITATIVE SKILLS NEEDED
Even though college graduation rates for women have been increasing, many young women still steer away from studying mathematics, science, economics and finance – some of the most relevant subjects to be equipped for a career in investment and asset management.
“If you want to have a successful career in finance, your chances will be much better if you have acquired strong quantitative skills. We deal with numbers, after all,” Sonal Desai, chief investment officer at Franklin Templeton Fixed Income, told AsianInvestor.
“At this stage, the single most important thing we can do is encourage all talents who want to enter the industry to acquire strong quantitative skills through their studies.”
Desai holds a Ph.D in economics from Northwestern University in the US.
While recruitment efforts show a promising pipeline of talented women, retention is a topic that merits special attention.
The investment world is notorious for very long working hours, and that can become a barrier for women who often juggle demanding family and work lives.
“There are only 24 hours in a day, and finance and asset management jobs are very time-demanding, so the key is always a balancing act between work and private life,” Virginie Maisonneuve global chief investment officer equity at Allianz Global Investors, told AsianInvestor.
With around 35 years of experience in investments, and with a large proportion of that time spent covering Asian markets, Maisonneuve has seen an increase of women in senior investment positions both globally and regionally. She believes this development will be a catalyst for further progress.
“Women and diversity at top industry positions will attract [more] women, because what people want to see is leaders who look like themselves and see role models that show it can be achieved. It creates a snowball effect, and that is key,” Maisonneuve said.
Maisonneuve also noted that retention and recognition is especially crucial during periods when women take career breaks to look after babies and young children.
MORE MENTORING
Mentoring is another tool that can help with retention and recognition efforts.
Maisonneuve was among the founders of Bloomberg Buyside Women’s Network and has also taken lead in the past in the UK CFA Institute’s Women in Investment Management initiative focused on improving investor outcomes by encouraging diversity in investment management.
Over the years, she has also taken on the role of mentoring women within the investment industry.
“Mentoring is very important early in a career. It is positive that people now have official mentoring initiatives. In the past, we didn't even have such mentoring programs – it just happened,” Maisonneuve said.
DWS’s Ng also mentioned the value of participating in an internal female talent initiative last year where 23 talented women who were at director level or above globally receive training and individual mentoring with both the group CEO and COO.
The initiative has now entered its second edition with emphasis on women early in their careers.
“When a company begins to promote capable women at various levels, it provides inspiration to those in junior positions. For instance, individuals interested in a career in investment can now witness female professionals being promoted to the position of CIO, which makes them aware that they too can reach that level or even higher in their careers. “Ng said.
Ng, who joined DWS in 2013, has a varied career featuring different roles.
The multi-talented senior executive has worked as a financial journalist, authored a book on economics and has also worked as a senior portfolio manager covering Asian real estate.
Franklin Templeton FI's Desai also highlighted the growing number of women in influential roles in the investment industry.
Franklin Templeton
Fixed Income
“There is no ceiling anymore, in the sense that women can achieve the highest positions in the industry. We are still a minority, but a steadily growing minority, which means everyone in the industry is getting used to seeing women in all positions of responsibility,” Desai said.
GROWING NETWORKS
That is a big change from previous years when there were very few women in senior investment roles.
“Most [women in the investment industry] were outliers like me. And we knew each other and could count each other on maybe two hands at most,” Jayne Bok, head of investments in Asia at consultancy WTW, told AsianInvestor, as she recollected her own early-years experience in home market South Korea.
WTW
Cut to 2024 and she attended an all-women private equity summit in Singapore in January.
“It was incredible. There were so many women, and all from Asia. I met women who have set up their own venture capital or private equity firms. It was very encouraging,” Bok said.
Bok herself is a well-known name in the investments arena, having worked for close to two decades with significant institutional players such as sovereign wealth funds and state-owned investors across Asia.
Allianz GI’s Maisonneuve, meanwhile, highlighted the importance of networking to move ahead in the industry.
“Businessmen have always belonged to different clubs and networks, and networking is an important dimension of doing business. These women's networks help to bring people into the industry, but what I'm hoping is that over time, those networks become more organised within the industry,” she said.
As a new generation of women enter the asset management industry, there is a greater appreciation of the importance and role of diversity in the work place, Maisonneuve is certain that more women will be appointed to investment leadership roles.
“Things will change. In any case, being able to meet women in networks and talk about things that you experienced and found difficult will always be valuable," she said.