How proactive can institutional investors be in influencing the "S" through their ESG criteria?
This year, the Sustainable Investor Summit no 6 in Frankfurt on May 16-17th was a great buzz. It showcased a broad range of topics, including Nachhaltige Anlagen, the European Green Deal, ESG, Energy Transition and Current investment trends, Best practices in Sustainable investing, Investieren in Zeiten des Klimawandels, etc.
However, a particularly noteworthy podium discussion was centred on Gender Diversity. (Wie aktiv können Institutionelle Investoren das "S" durch ihre ESG-kriterien beeinflussen? )
The financial and asset management industries seem particularly affected by what is often summarized as "the Thomas effect", where organisations tend to recruit individuals who share similar characteristics to themselves (Thomas recruits another Thomas). The conversation began with the slow progress of appointing women to boards. This brought the monoculture recruitment processes into focus, raising questions about the responsibility recruitment agencies carry to their own unconscious bias and the more significant gap between investment managers and investment advisors and with their clients, who are becoming more diverse.
Attracting and retaining females in the financial industry is instrumental to cultivating a more diverse workplace - not only from a gender perspective but also from an age, education, and background perspective, which in turn helps attract clients and retain younger talents.
For more information on this topic, I recommend reading up on the work of the Allbright Stiftung.