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O
ne of the key drivers to in-
crease diversity and inclusion
is fostering a culture of “diversity
of thought”, according to buy-side
speakers at this year’s TradeTech
FX Europe conference.
The panel agreed that an environ-
ment in which a greater variety of
thought and opinions are brought
to the investment or portfolio
management process will lead to
improved performance and can be
a competitive edge for firms.
Amanda Pullinger, CEO of 100
Women in Finance, said that
numerous studies have shown that
greater diversity will lead to better
investment and trading results, but
despite this, the industry still has
much work to do in making tangi-
ble change happen.
“The challenge is that unless you
have lived a world where you have
actually experienced the bene-
fits of diversity, sometimes those
studies don’t make a difference,”
she commented. “One thing that is
critical for the industry is that we
encourage, particularly in men, to
talk about their positive experienc-
es of working with diversity. It is
about diversity of thought; if you
are building a team, that means the
people in that team challenge what
you say and think differently from
you. That’s the piece that is the
challenge.”
Andy Maack, head of FX trading
at Vanguard, highlighted a shift
in the industry away from the
“individual star portfolio manager”
towards a team-based approach,
which had been proven to result
in better outcome and thinking
processes, a point picked up by
Stefanie Holtze-Jen, chief currency
strategist at DWS Group.
“We are an industry that still likes
to have its heroes, its individuals
that stick out, this is how market-
ing is done,” she said. “But we need
38 // TheTrade // Fall 2019
Diversity of thought
is the key to better
performance,
says buy-side
Speakers at TradeTech FX Europe highlight a shift
to team-based portfolio management and the
demystification of the industry as key diversity drivers.
to come to the understand that
only a winning team can succeed
and enabling everybody in this
team to participate is the next step,
so this comes down to a culture
change because it’s not inherent in
the financial services DNA.”
The panel highlighted some of
the initiatives that their firms and
the industry on a wider scale are
undertaking to increase the level
of diversity and inclusion, such as
going out to schools to teach young
people about the industry, and to
increase the access to the financial
services internship positions that
had not previously been available
as widely.
However, Pullinger touched on
two major challenges that still
remain for the industry to address:
increasing the visibility of minority
groups within the industry and
demystifying the way in which the
financial services industry actually
operates by highlighting how the
buy-side can operate on a positive
social level.