Of the 931 professionals taking part in the survey conducted by the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment (CISI), 57% disagreed that action was required to correct a gender imbalance.
This report comes after the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published data early this year which revealed that of the 125,000 approved persons working in customer function positions, 82% were male and only 18% were female.
The Government target is for 30% of board members to be women. However, the CISI study said the imposition of a quota for employing women caused “widespread concern”, with some respondents suggesting it was unfair and counterproductive.
“It is important that approved persons are appointed because of their skills and not because of their gender,” one respondent remarked. “Any positive discrimination could only lead to lower qualified people joining the market.”
“Unnatural imbalance”
Others suggested the financial services industry did not appeal to many women or that there were already plenty of measures in place to promote female workers.
However, one female respondent said it was difficult for women because financial services is so male dominated. “Sometimes it is a very sexist environment,” she added.
Some agreed that the “unnatural imbalance” needed to be corrected and said the industry should focus on recruiting more women at a customer-function level to provide a “greater pool of female staff to promote to senior positions”.
“It seems the UK has not moved much,” said one respondent. “Individuals and firms need to change their culture.”
