PIMFA – the trade association for personal investment managers and financial advisers – welcomed over 100 delegates at their Women in Wealth Forum last week.

The event featured an array of leading industry experts, to inspire, empower and educate women who are aspiring to leadership positions in the investment management and financial advice industry. It also highlighted the importance of having an inclusive, open forum for men and women, to lead the equality debate and affect real change.

Women in Wealth highlights

Sarah Kaiser, Global Head of Diversity and Inclusion at Fidelity, kicked off the day with her views on how to nurture a diverse workforce. She explained why companies needed to build a diverse and inclusive culture to address the huge challenges thrown up by the fast-changing business environment.

She said: “If you want to succeed in the modern world this needs to be a priority, those that are more diverse are three times more likely to be profitable, innovative, have higher sales, attract better employees, and have up to 153% stronger customer relations. The business case has been decidedly proven.”

Anita Rolls, Founder of So What Do You Do? led a practical, interactive session that looked at key trends disrupting today’s world of work, the implications this has for individuals, and how they can capitalise on opportunities.

She explained: “High IQ and EQ is no longer the only key to succeed in the workplace, but also CQ (Career Intelligence), which can enable people to think and act more like the ‘CEO of You’ in their careers. Career Intelligence is a simple framework that will help clarify what’s important to you in your career and how you can start to manage it more pro-actively – whether you’re just starting out, or you’re a more experienced professional looking for your next challenge.”

Following this session, Mark Freed, CEO of E2W, highlighted the importance of ‘allyship’ within the industry, saying: “An ally is someone you combine or unite with for mutual benefit.

“If the equality movement started just over 100 years ago, men have been the most silent recipients of its benefits ever since. To make the final steps towards a society where everyone can make their own life and career choices, where we succeed based on ability, we need men to step up.

“Men need to recognise the benefits they have received as a consequence of the female-led fight for equality and then join the fight to its finish. Men need to step up to the front line.”

Tracey Reddings, Managing Director of Reddings Wealth Management, closed the day, by sharing her career journey and discussing the importance and key traits of authentic leadership with purpose, and how firms can combine human purpose with commercial objective.

Tracey explained: “Leading with purpose, can help create a happy and fulfilled team, which leads to satisfied clients, which ultimately leads to and equals profit. Success depends on surrounding yourself with great people and giving them space and autonomy to grow”.

PIMFA Chief Executive Liz Field said: “We are delighted to be holding our Women in Wealth forum again this year and would like to thank our Partners Fidelity International for their support throughout this series.

“From promoting the importance of allyship, and how male colleagues can help change the industry, to practical tips to help women strategically think about their careers and how to confidently go forward and achieve success I think there has been some fantastic takeaways from today’s forum, something for all of us to keep in mind, regardless of gender.

The Women in Wealth Forum was designed to be an interactive session to inspire, empower and educate men and women to help address and tackle the barriers to women’s careers, and enable personal development. It plans to hold the series again next year, to both share positive examples from firms who have implemented new strategies to enhance the diversity in their organisations and feature others, who can provide practical tools and techniques to aid personal development.”

PIMFA will continue to run the Women in Wealth series in 2020. #PIMFAWomenInWealth