The female financial adviser gap is starting to narrow but more needs to be done to attract women into the industry, The Openwork Partnership’s Inspiring Women in Financial Services conference heard.
Research by The Openwork Partnership, one of the UK’s largest and longest established financial advice and investment networks, shows around 69% of financial advice firms expect to grow their businesses over the next 12 months providing the ideal opportunity to recruit more women.
Claire Limon, Network Director, at The Openwork Partnership told the conference she was thrilled to celebrate the talent and depth of expertise of the growing ranks of female financial advisers in the UK.
“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 well-attended conference held at The Grand Hotel in Birmingham was the third organised by The Openwork Partnership focusing on women in financial services.
Claire Limon added: “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. For example, The Openwork Academy, which provides structured learning and qualification support to achieve a successful career in financial advice, had 32% female candidates across its last two intakes.
“The progress made at policy level such as the Treasury’s Women in Finance Charter is very welcome but change needs to accelerate.”
The conference was powered by a series of inspirational speakers including entrepreneur, money coach and qualified financial planner Catherine Morgan; Paralympian, 7/7 survivor and author Martine Wright MBE; and comedian Cally Beaton.
Sarah Hogan, Chartered Financial Planner, KBA Financial said: “It was a pleasure to meet so many inspiring women at this year’s conference. 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.”
The conference also heard from Sam Tesch, Head of The Openwork Foundation, which celebrates its 40th year of commitment to charity and community, who focused on the charity’s achievements donating £21 million to benefit 500,000 people since its inauguration in 1981. The conference featured a series of roundtables focusing on the widest range of opportunities for female advisers including adopting more impactful social media strategies, addressing diversity and inclusion and training and career progression.
