Royal Bank of Scotland: Investing in Women

19/6/2012

by Girl Banker

When it comes to including women in their business, some investment banks are more serious than others; RBS is on the more serious side.

I just met up with the Jessica Chu the Global Director of Diversity and Inclusion for Markets and International Banking (M&IB) at RBS; she explained their current views on women in banking and all the initiatives that they have in place to try to reach 50:50 at the graduate level.

This is a hard goal to achieve. For one thing, very few women apply. In the 5 years that I spent on a derivatives desk, I can only think of a handful of women ever applying whilst we were inundated with job requests from guys.

Indeed, the current trend across the industry is that a lot of women might come in but as they reach the Vice President (VP) level their numbers start declining rapidly. The reasons are manifold but a key one is obviously having children and going for a lifestyle that allows for more flexibility to fit in childcare.

To cater to the problem of retaining and motivating women, RBS has created an internal network, Compass, with the support of M&IB CEO John Hourican. The network aims to support women through their career by meeting, sharing ideas and implementing those strategies that foster a flexible and inclusive workplace.

What's more, RBS are currently contemplating donating copies of To Become an Investment Banker to target schools.

You can read more on how RBS is investing in women here and you can apply to RBS here.

Who is Girl Banker® and how can she help you?

6 Comments

Girl Banker®

I created my investment banking blog in 2012 as soon as I resigned from i-banking & published my book, To Become An Investment Banker.

Initially published at girlbanker.com, all posts have now been subsumed into my personal website under katsonga.com/GirlBanker.

These blog posts make it as straight-forward for you as possible to get into a top tier investment bank.

I have 7 years of front office i-banking experience from Goldman Sachs and HSBC, in both classic IBD (corporate finance) and Derivatives (DCM / FICC).

I'm also a CFA survivor having passed all three levels on the first attempt within 18 months - the shortest time possible.

Riddhi

11/8/2016 10:00:28 am

Why do banks/board rooms need to boost the number of women? I am absolutely against any sort of quota or drive that seeks to artificially fill profiles of candidates. Should women be assessed the same as men and receive fair terms of contract (fair not equal) - yes. But that means making sure women know about opportunities available at banking so IF that is what they want and they are qualified amongst other candidates, they should get the job.

Heather as "Girl Banker"

11/8/2016 10:01:07 am

Why do banks/board rooms need to boost the number of women?

Because there are hardly any there. The reason there aren't any there is definitely NOT because women are less qualified. If anything the women you find on boards are two times more qualified than the men.

Why aren't women getting to the top? Because the corporate agenda is very geared to suit the lifestyle of a man for one thing but there are many other issues at play. Women don't get the same networking opportunities that men do. Men are currently the bosses and they are constantly bonding on the golf course, in clubs, in the toilets - you name it. Not only might a woman feel uncomfortable in some of those situations, she likely wouldn't even be there, nor would she want to be there.

You don't even have to read the research to see this problem; just sit back and look at the politics of the workplace. You are lucky if you have only worked in places where women are setting the corporate agenda in exactly the same way that men are.

I used to be blind to the poor balance and its reasons but having had a thorough look at the issues I agree with all policies geared towards recruiting and retaining women. It is a very big issue. I don't think any company would give a woman a job just because she is a woman.

riddhi

11/8/2016 10:01:42 am

I think that confuses separate issues. If there are fewer women around, it could be the product of fewer women wanting to be there. we have different priorities to men. The issue rises when, as you say, the corporate world prevents women who do want and are capable, from getting through. A quota doesn't address that - it simply puts candidates through who tick the gender box for the sake of meeting the quota. Women have a much shorter history in the workplace than men. It'll take time to catch up over generations. Quota or corporate feminism is not the right answer.

11/8/2016 10:03:02 am

50% of working women, work part-time so of the pool of working women, the ambitions are very different to men. The women that support dependents (kids) is much higher for women than for men. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7638056.stm

Hence even if 50% of uni students are women that does not mean 50% of board rooms ought to be. University is about opportunity that everyone can access so the male-female ratio ought to reflect the gender ratio in the population. Employment, board composition and authority should be based on ability not matter what gender.

It should be about promoting equal opportunity and a work culture that allows women the same opportunity as men so that the lifestyle that comes with being a women does not hold us back relative to men.

The advantage I concede, in quotas is that perhaps it kick-starts the process for businesses to orientate themselves better towards women. Fine, that's good. The danger that makes me strongly oppose quotas is that it becomes the end goal rather than being viewed as a tool to achieve the different aim of an equal opps work place.

Having under accomplished women on a board against better qualified men will only lead to resentment towards the "weaker" gender. I think over time through generations, any attitude against promoting women will erode away. In finance or otherwise, have I ever felt held back for being a woman? Nope. May be I'm not senior enough to feel the political storm but I don't see this with other women around me either.

In principle I am against discrimination - positive or negative.

11/8/2016 10:03:28 am

I know men on the trading floor that think women should not be in banking. I have heard it said to my own ears several times: "It's not that women are not smart or anything but you're better at more organizational, task-orientated stuff".

Some guys feel it's okay to tell me things like this because I make them feel like I'm 'one of the guys' too so they sometimes forget that I am a woman. I don't get cross when I hear such remarks or even respond rudely, I have observed that the type of people that say this sort of thing had stay at home mums and that is why they see women in this light.

So please be full in the knowledge that as closeted as they might be, some guys on your floor would prefer you were at home having babies and organizing the home.

I agree that the quota should not be a goal in itself.

I do agree with supporting disadvantaged people, you can call it positive discrimination if you like. I feel that I empathise very heavily with people that just don't have or don't see the opportunities. I personally call it help not positive discrimination. Needing help does not have to stop with feeding people that are without food, you need to feed people with knowledge, tell them where to find it and show them that the world can be a better place for them if they do A, B, C. I believe this because I have had informational deficits at times in my life and have needed the help of others to realize my own potential.

Some people were just lucky enough to be born into social circles where certain information was 'just there' - it's not everyone. Help me feed info to those that need it and start contributing some blogs to GB :)

11/8/2016 10:04:13 am

Women Struggle To Be Taken Seriously At Work

Women working in hedge funds struggle to be taken seriously at work, according to a new study from two leading management experts.

The report from the universities of Leicester and Essex looked into the concept of 'adulting' which is defined as the attempt by people to be seen as mature and responsible, professionally and socially.

The academics, who looked at men and women at a London hedge fund, found that women faced problems at every stage of adult life – from getting started in the company to keeping credibility among colleagues after giving birth.

Read more here:
http://hereisthecity.com/2012/06/27/women-never-the-right-age-in-hedge-fund/

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