The female financial adviser gap is starting to narrow but more needs to be done to attract women into the industry, according to the Openwork Partnership.
Speaking at Openwork’s Inspiring Women in Financial Services conference, Claire Limon, network director, said she was thrilled to celebrate the talent and depth of expertise of the growing ranks of female financial advisers in the UK.
She said: “Female financial advice is thriving in the UK with real evidence that the female financial advice gap is starting to narrow but, in a male-dominated advice industry we must redouble our efforts to attract more women into the industry.”
The conference, held at The Grand Hotel in Birmingham last week, was the third organised by The Openwork Partnership focusing on women in financial services.
In her speech, Limon explained the Openwork Academy had had 32 per cent female candidates across its last two intakes.
This came as Openwork achieved its “best ever” quarter for recruitment, with a total of 36 appointed representatives and 257 advisers joining the network in the first three months of the year.
Research by Openwork, conducted among 100 advisers across the UK in August and September, also found that around 69 per cent of financial advice firms expect to grow their businesses over the next 12 months, providing the ideal opportunity to recruit more women.
She said: “Our ambition at The Openwork Partnership is to take an industry-leading position to focus on recruitment strategies to better engage with women on opportunities in the financial services sector.
“Our recruitment and training is laser-focused on closing the female financial adviser gap.
“The progress made at policy level such as the Treasury’s Women in Finance Charter is very welcome but change needs to accelerate.”
Sarah Hogan, chartered financial planner at KBA Financial, added: “ The future of a vibrant and gender-balanced financial services industry lies in the hands of the growing ranks of female financial advisers and their ambition to achieve the very best outcomes for their clients.
“I was privileged to share some of my experiences in growing a successful business focused on pipeline management skills and building trusted adviser-client relationships across families and generations.”
sonia.rach@ft.com
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