AvivaApr 6 2023

Majority choose male name for financial advisers

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Majority choose male name for financial advisers
Pexels/George Becker

Nine in 10 non-advised consumers gave a male name when asked what they thought a financial adviser is likely to be called, according to new research by Aviva.

The research found that 94 per cent of men, and 92 per cent of women gave a male name. 

The survey, carried out by Censuswide in February, found that when asked whether they assumed most advisers are men, just under half (40 per cent) of consumers automatically assume most financial advisers are men, while 21 per cent said this wasn’t the case. 

In addition, more women than men assume most financial advisers are men (44 per cent vs 40 per cent), although more women than men also disagreed that they assume this (23 per cent vs 19 per cent).

Sam Mirehouse, managing director of Aviva Financial Advice, said: “Although this is a light-hearted take on people’s perceptions of advisers and the advice market, the results do show us that there’s still an unconscious bias at work when thinking about the ‘typical’ adviser.”

Mirehouse said there’s a big difference between 40 per cent of people saying they do assume most advisers are men, and 94 per cent giving a male name, when asked what they think this might be.

“It’s probably true that financial advice is not the only profession that suffers from stereotypical perceptions, but it’s a reminder that there’s still a lot that we in this profession can do to increase diversity overall and not just in gender, making it accessible for more people,” Mirehouse said.

“We’ve consciously striven for a gender split in Aviva Financial Advice which is more even than the market, and currently 45 per cent of our advisers are women. Maintaining the balance will remain an area of focus for us.”

Advised customers were also asked to reveal their adviser’s first name, which revealed that 19 per cent have a female adviser - names which could be either male or female, such as Alex or Chris, were excluded. 

This is broadly in line with recent market stats from the Financial Conduct Authority, saying 16 per cent of advisers are female.

Aviva internal data based on 52,000 contacts with ‘adviser type’ roles in November 2022 revealed that the top 10 names in order are: David, Paul, James, Mark, Andrew, John, Richard, Michael, Matthew, Simon.

sonia.rach@ft.com

What do you think about the issues raised by this story? Email us on ftadviser.newsdesk@ft.com to let us know