Category: Private markets
Paul Hodgson explores the progress being made on diversity and inclusion in the sustainability world Paul Hodgson explores the progress being made on diversity and inclusion in the sustainability world Paul Hodgson explores the progress being made on diversity and inclusion in the sustainability world
Jan 6th, 2021
“The finance industry has been too white and too male for too long. That needs to change,” says a recent op-ed by Roy Swan, the Director of Mission Investments for the Ford Foundation. Swan cites the statistic that women and people of colour manage only 1% of the $71trn (€58.2trn) in US assets under management. But, he said a study from the National Association of Investment Companies (NAIC) and Harvard Business School professor, Josh Lerner, found that diverse managers performed as well as, or better than their white counterparts.
The NAIC study cites a host of other statistics, including another study which concluded that women comprise just 11% of investment decision-makers at venture capital firms, while black and Hispanic employees represent just 3% and 4% respectively. It is no better in private equity (PE), where other research found that in 2019 women-owned PE firms accounted for 5.25% of all PE funds in existence, while minority…