A part of Watch Media

AMWatchFriday27 January 2023

  • Search
  • Log in
  • Fund Management
  • Pension
  • Responsible Investing
  • People
  • Search
  • Log in
  • Latest
  • Search
  • Log in
  • Fund Management
  • Pension
  • Responsible Investing
  • People
29/05/2017at 13:30

Fewer than one in ten of Danish portfolio managers are women

If a woman eyes a future in the world of asset management, there is no place with better work conditions than in Scandinavia. Nevertheless, women make up a negligible percentage of present-day portfolio managers.
Caroline Keegan, portfolio manager at ATP. | Photo: ATP
by LYKKE OGSTRUP LUNDE

Have you spoken to a female portfolio manager lately? There is little chance that the answer is yes.

FW Asset management has called around to the 35 domestic asset managers registered in Denmark. As it turns out, few of them had female portfolio managers on staff.

Only 9 percent of the respondents confirmed having one or more female portfolio managers on staff. And of the asset managers that employed female portfolio managers, the women on average only accounted for 9 percent of the total number of portfolio managers employed by the firm.

One of the relatively few female portfolio managers in Denmark is Irish Caroline Keegan, Senior Portfolio Manager of Hedging and Treasury at ATP, Denmark's by far largest pension fund.

"I have at times felt that I was the minority in the room, but not from a male-female perspective. It was more at the beginning of my career, when I set foot for the first time on a trading floor that I realized, when I looked around, that there weren't that many women around," Keegan explains.

"But it was really more when I physically saw the environment. However, it was more a realization than anything else. And it was early in my career. Today I never think about it."

Most women at ATP

ATP has the highest percentage of female portfolio managers out of all the responding asset managers. 18 percent of their portfolio managers are women. In plain numbers, that is 4 women out of 22 employees.

But being a lone woman amid a sea of men should be no cause for anxiety. Caroline Keegan has never had trouble or felt left out, she says.

"I made it very clear from the time I walked into the dealing room that I was there for business – I wasn't there for any type of entertainment. My male colleagues have respected my boundaries because I set them very clearly at the beginning," Keegan explains.

The number of women in business-related educational programs has been more or less consistent for many years according to numbers from Copenhagen Business School. So men being the majority in portfolio management is not due to changes in the influx of women.

Keegan attributes the statistics to the fact that as early as their teen years, girls have this unfounded idea that they are bad with numbers:

"I think it starts very early. It starts already in high school. Do not be afraid of the subjects – the hard core subjects. Don't be afraid of math, chemistry or physics. These are not subjects that are exclusively male," Keegan says – especially to the young girls of today.

Women are not applying for the jobs

Many of the Danish asset managers, whom FWAM has spoken with, say that they would hire female portfolio managers in a heartbeat, but that is difficult when they get no job applications from women.

Several of them point out that there are many women in other parts of the organization, but it is usually legal departments or human resources that women gravitate towards.

Keegan is very happy with her job, and she sees good reason in hiring more women to manage the billions of kroner in assets.

"I always think theres an advantage to bringing diversity in. If you have two people who have the same capabilities I think diversity on top of all that always helps the situation. Not just gender, but also background, education etc. so you don't end up covering from too homogeneous a pool and running the risk that you actually come to the same conclusion because of your background."

Caroline Keegan is a mother of two, and she believes that she became a better, more focused portfolio manager after having children.

English Edit: Marie Honoré

Sign up for our newsletter

Stay ahead of development by receiving our newsletter on the latest sector knowledge.

!
Newsletter terms

Front page now

Foto: Thomas Borberg/Ritzau Scanpix
Responsible Investing

Dane's equity holdings shrank by 9% in 2022

Danish investors’ total holdings of equities receded by DKK 57bn (EUR 7.7bn) over last year, new figures from Denmark’s central bank show.
  • Danes change pension companies more frequently than Swedes
  • AP Pension CIO craves more nuance in debate on alternatives

For subscribers

Foto: Shannon Stapleton/Reuters/Ritzau Scanpix
AMNews

Investors are missing earnings data after 2022 IPO collapse

For subscribers

Maunu Lehtimäki, CEO of Evli. | Foto: PR Evli.
AMWatch

Alternative sales grow and net flows start to stabilize at Finland's Evli

For subscribers

Speed is of the essence when launching new investment products, CFO Masih Yazdi says. | Photo: PR / SEB
Fund Management

SEB aims for speedy product launches to make up for huge AUM drop in 2022

For subscribers

Karl C. W. Mathisen fills position as CEqO at Folketrygdfondet on Feb. 1. | Photo: Folketrygdfondet
People

Folketrygdfondet finds new head of equities in own ranks

For subscribers

Michael Probst/AP/Ritzau Scanpix
Responsible Investing

Global clean-energy investments match fossil fuel for the first time

For subscribers

Further reading

Archive. Financial district Barcode in Bjørvika, Oslo. | Photo: Jörgen Skjelsbæk
Fund Management

Here is how Norwegian fund managers performed in 2022

Assets under management from Norwegian-registered fund managers fell by almost 8.2% in total in 2022, but differences among individual managers are vast.

For subscribers

Storebrand Fonder CEO Åsa Wallenberg considers sustainability a guiding principle for the company. | Foto: Fredrik Hjerling
Fund Management

Storebrand Fonder provides more than three-quarters of Swedish fund inflow

The fund manager contributed the lion’s share of net inflow to the Swedish fund market last year – SEK 14.5bn of a SEK 19bn total. Sustainability is the key to the company’s investment policy.

For subscribers

Maunu Lehtimäki, CEO of Evli. | Foto: PR Evli.
AMWatch

Alternative sales grow and net flows start to stabilize at Finland's Evli

In 2022, the sales of Evli’s alternative investment products saw notable growth with fee income from this product range increasing by 50%. CEO Maunu Lehtimäki evaluates the company’s annual results.

For subscribers

Latest news

  • Investors are missing earnings data after 2022 IPO collapse – 15:07
  • Dane's equity holdings shrank by 9% in 2022 – 14:48
  • SEB aims for speedy product launches to make up for huge AUM drop in 2022 – 10:42
  • Alternative sales grow and net flows start to stabilize at Finland's Evli – 10:27
  • Folketrygdfondet finds new head of equities in own ranks – 09:37
  • Global clean-energy investments match fossil fuel for the first time – 07:50
  • Here is how Norwegian fund managers performed in 2022 – 26 Jan
  • Morgan Stanley fines its bankers over messaging breaches – 26 Jan
  • Slight recovery in SEB’s AUM in fourth quarter – but outflow continues – 26 Jan
  • Deutsche Bank fund unit doubles down on ETF target amid outflows – 26 Jan
See all

Jobs

  • PenSam søger en jurist med interesse for den finansielle sektor

  • Porteføljemanager til danske ejendomme i PenSam

Watch Jobs

  • Centerdirektør til Sønderborg

  • Forvaltningsservicechef i Vestforbrænding

  • People and Operations Partner

  • Senior Porteføljemanager

  • Tilbudschef - NCC Renovering Vest

See all jobs

Jobs

  • PenSam søger en jurist med interesse for den finansielle sektor

  • Porteføljemanager til danske ejendomme i PenSam

See all jobs

Colophon

AMWatch
Search

Sections

  • Fund Management
  • Pension
  • Responsible Investing
  • People
  • Sitemap
  • RSS feeds

Editor

Anne Louise Houmann

alh@amwatch.dk

Tel.: +45 2830 5142

Editor-in-chief

Anders Heering

Publisher

JP/Politiken Media Group Ltd

Advertising

annoncering@infowatch.dk

Tel.: +45 7077 7491

Advertising

Job Advertising

job@infowatch.dk

Tel.: +45 7077 7491

Jobs

Subscription

Try AMWatch or get an offer for a subscription meeting the exact needs of you or your company.

amwatch@infowatch.dk

Tel.: +45 7077 7491

Learn more about subscriptions here

Address

AMWatch

Rådhuspladsen 37

1785 Copenhagen K, Denmark

Tel.: +45 3330 8382

Guidelines

  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © AMWatch — All rights reserved

Microsoft is in the process of discontinuing Internet Explorer – and so are we.
For a better experience, we recommend using one of the following browsers.

Kind regards,
AMWatch

Google ChromeMozilla FirefoxMicrosoft Edge