Female students eye a more equal playing field for financial services in Scotland – Scottish Business News

OVER 100 female school and university students from all over Scotland flocked to Edinburgh Napier University for the first-ever Career Insight Day spearheaded by financial services charity Future Asset to inspire and empower more young women to enter what is currently a male-dominated sector. 

At present, only 12% of UK fund managers are women*, and if the rate of change stays the same, parity will not be achieved until 2215 – almost 200 years from now**!

Through its Growing Future Assets Investment Competition, Future Asset is working with financial services organisations across Scotland to create pathways for female school and college-leavers into the industry. 

Jen Mair, Chair of Future Asset, said: “There is a desperate need in the industry for more diversity and more women, and I’m very passionate about driving that forward. It’s well established that diverse firms are more financially successful and better meet their clients’ needs.”

One of the speakers at the Careers Insight Day was author and broadcaster Dr Vanessa Collingridge. 

Dr Collingridge said: “It’s such an important part of Scotland’s economy, we need to be thinking smarter about the kind of people coming into this. I really wish that a scheme like Future Asset had been around when I was growing up. Giving that opportunity to people is incredibly powerful and, I would say, transformational.”

Registration for the next Growing Future Assets Investment Competition opens on 14 August.