Four new partners have joined the Future IM/Pact program, a nation-wide initiative aimed at improving diversity in Australian investing by attracting more women into frontline investing roles.
Super giants UniSuper and Aware Super, along with leading investment houses Pinnacle Investment Management and TDM Growth Partners, are the latest firms to sign up to Future IM/Pact.
Current partners include Australian Ethical, Australian Retirement Trust, Cbus, and HESTA.
Yolanda Beattie, founder of Future IM/Pact said momentum towards attracting young women in the sector was clearly growing.
“We’re seeing more superfunds and investment management firms recognise the importance of working across industry to build the pipeline of female investors,” she said.
“Having 20 industry partners on board gives us more opportunities to share with our growing pool of female talent, more mentors to support their career journey and more funding to inspire a passion among more women about a career in this hugely influential industry.”
Founded in 2018, Beattie’s program connects the country’s leading investment houses with women at university and in their early career, providing information about careers in investing.
Meet and greets, mentoring opportunities and friendly investment competitions are all part of the program, designed to engage young investors while creating a talent pool for partners’ intern, graduate and analyst roles.
Aware Super Chief Investment Officer Damian Graham said his company is committed to redressing the gender super gap through a holistic diversity strategy.
“To address imbalances such as Australia’s 14.1 per cent gender pay gap and its resulting erosion of women’s retirement security, we recognise the need for a wide range of experience and perspectives to make the best investment decisions for our more than 1.1 million members,” he said.
“Currently we have around four times as many men as women apply for investment roles, and we are actively championing initiatives so our industry focuses on attracting women to front-line investment roles.”
“It’s also why we are committed to working with our peers through Future IM/Pact.”
UniSuper CIO John Pearce said the fund’s obligation to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) was part of its talent management strategy.
“Different perspectives, experiences and skills are key to high performing teams,” Pearce said.
“With a significant amount of funds managed in house, we have a lot of scope to develop exceptional talent, which in turn ensures we best deliver for our members.”
Founder and Managing Director of Pinnacle, Ian Macoun said developing a pool of female talent at the grassroots level must be part of the investment industry’s strategy to addressing its lack of gender diversity.
“We have a responsibility to promote these pathways, particularly to up and coming female talent, and ensure students and graduates have the support they need for a long and successful career in finance. Our partnership with Future IM/Pact will help achieve this and ultimately promote greater gender diversity in Finance.”
Roly Clifton-Bligh, Head of TDM Growth Partners Foundation, said joining Future IM/Pact was consistent with the company’s philosophy of cultivating diverse groups of people and culture.
“We only invest in companies that have a proven track record in attracting great people and building a strong culture that supports people to do their best work,” he said.
“We know DEI is a key ingredient of that recipe. Future IM/Pact helps us walk that talk by deepening the talent pool of great women working across our industry.”