Natixis Investment Managers backs Future Females in Finance
In a move aimed at narrowing the gender gap in financial services in Australia, Natixis Investment Managers announced a partnership with Future Females in Finance (F3). F3 was created to encourage young women to take up careers in financial services, and offers structured programs centred on education, access to work experience and strong female role models.
Louise Watson, Managing Director for Natixis Investment Managers in Australia, said that financial services should be an attractive career for both men and women.
“Financial services covers a wide range of sectors and jobs and offers plenty of intellectual challenge in addition to financial rewards, but unfortunately, it’s an industry that has traditionally attracted far more men than women. While we have made progress, gender imbalance is still evident. Interestingly, the World Economic Forum ranks Australia 39th in the world in terms of gender gap – above the global average but much lower than our closest neighbour New Zealand, which ranked 7th. Our low rank was in part determined by our even lower rank of 46th in the area of women’s economic participation and access to opportunity, which is why improving participation by fostering the next generation of women in financial services is a crucial step in the battle for gender equality,” said Ms Watson.
Natixis’ partnership with F3 will cover a range of initiatives, including six-week work experience programs for university students. In these programs, groups of young women are given real business problems to solve, with the support of a skilled mentor provided by Natixis.
Camilla Love, founder of F3, said that she was excited to add a global investment manager like Natixis to the growing list of F3’s corporate partners.
“Women are still woefully under-represented in financial services in Australia, so it’s great to have major players encouraging the next generation of young women. When we formed F3, our aim was to try to close the gap by doing things like work experience a bit differently. Experience tells us that women working in teams to solve real problems is a more effective way of introducing them to the challenges and excitement of financial services than the traditional work experience model – which often saw young women working alone in a male-dominated office and possibly feeling intimidated or unsure about the suitability of financial services as a career,” Ms Love explained.
In conclusion, Ms Watson said that she was looking forward to working with F3 and to meeting the young women she hopes will become the next wave of female executives in Australian financial services.
“I agree with Camilla. Success is when organisations like F3 are no longer needed, because gender imbalance is no longer a problem. I hope and expect that our partnership with F3 will go some way towards achieving that aim,” said Ms Watson.
About F3 (Future Females in Finance)
F3 – Future Females in Finance – was established in 2017 by Camilla Love. F3 aims to foster the next generation of female talent into the financial services industry. F3 is a program specifically designed to encourage young women from year 10 through to the end of university to embark upon a career in financial services. F3 does this by educating young women about careers in finance, showcasing great role models within the industry and providing practical work experience to help them get a step ahead.
About Natixis Investment Managers
Natixis Investment Managers serves financial professionals with more insightful ways to construct portfolios. Powered by the expertise of more than 20 specialised investment managers globally, we apply Active Thinking® to deliver proactive solutions that help clients pursue better outcomes in all markets. Natixis ranks among the world’s largest asset management firms1 ($960.3 billion / €855.4 billion AUM2). Headquartered in Paris and Boston, Natixis Investment Managers is a subsidiary of Natixis. Listed on the Paris Stock Exchange, Natixis is a subsidiary of BPCE, the second-largest banking group in France.
For additional information, please visit the company’s website at im.natixis.com | LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/natixis-investment-managers. Natixis Investment Managers includes all of the investment management and distribution entities affiliated with Natixis Distribution, L.P. and Natixis Investment Managers S.A. Natixis Distribution, L.P. is a limited purpose broker-dealer and the distributor of various registered investment companies for which advisory services are provided by affiliates of Natixis Investment Managers.
Provided by Natixis Investment Managers Australia Pty Limited (ABN 60 088 786 289)(AFSL No.246830) and is intended for the general information of financial advisers and wholesale clients only.
1 Cerulli Quantitative Update: Global Markets 2017 ranked Natixis Investment Managers (formerly Natixis Global Asset Management) as the 15th largest asset manager in the world based on assets under management as of December 31, 2016.
2 Net asset value as at March 31, 2019, Assets under management (“AUM”), as reported, may include notional assets, assets serviced, gross assets and other types of non-regulatory AUM.
Louise Watson, Managing Director for Natixis Investment Managers in Australia, said that financial services should be an attractive career for both men and women.
“Financial services covers a wide range of sectors and jobs and offers plenty of intellectual challenge in addition to financial rewards, but unfortunately, it’s an industry that has traditionally attracted far more men than women. While we have made progress, gender imbalance is still evident. Interestingly, the World Economic Forum ranks Australia 39th in the world in terms of gender gap – above the global average but much lower than our closest neighbour New Zealand, which ranked 7th. Our low rank was in part determined by our even lower rank of 46th in the area of women’s economic participation and access to opportunity, which is why improving participation by fostering the next generation of women in financial services is a crucial step in the battle for gender equality,” said Ms Watson.
Natixis’ partnership with F3 will cover a range of initiatives, including six-week work experience programs for university students. In these programs, groups of young women are given real business problems to solve, with the support of a skilled mentor provided by Natixis.
Camilla Love, founder of F3, said that she was excited to add a global investment manager like Natixis to the growing list of F3’s corporate partners.
“Women are still woefully under-represented in financial services in Australia, so it’s great to have major players encouraging the next generation of young women. When we formed F3, our aim was to try to close the gap by doing things like work experience a bit differently. Experience tells us that women working in teams to solve real problems is a more effective way of introducing them to the challenges and excitement of financial services than the traditional work experience model – which often saw young women working alone in a male-dominated office and possibly feeling intimidated or unsure about the suitability of financial services as a career,” Ms Love explained.
In conclusion, Ms Watson said that she was looking forward to working with F3 and to meeting the young women she hopes will become the next wave of female executives in Australian financial services.
“I agree with Camilla. Success is when organisations like F3 are no longer needed, because gender imbalance is no longer a problem. I hope and expect that our partnership with F3 will go some way towards achieving that aim,” said Ms Watson.
About F3 (Future Females in Finance)
F3 – Future Females in Finance – was established in 2017 by Camilla Love. F3 aims to foster the next generation of female talent into the financial services industry. F3 is a program specifically designed to encourage young women from year 10 through to the end of university to embark upon a career in financial services. F3 does this by educating young women about careers in finance, showcasing great role models within the industry and providing practical work experience to help them get a step ahead.
About Natixis Investment Managers
Natixis Investment Managers serves financial professionals with more insightful ways to construct portfolios. Powered by the expertise of more than 20 specialised investment managers globally, we apply Active Thinking® to deliver proactive solutions that help clients pursue better outcomes in all markets. Natixis ranks among the world’s largest asset management firms1 ($960.3 billion / €855.4 billion AUM2). Headquartered in Paris and Boston, Natixis Investment Managers is a subsidiary of Natixis. Listed on the Paris Stock Exchange, Natixis is a subsidiary of BPCE, the second-largest banking group in France.
For additional information, please visit the company’s website at im.natixis.com | LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/natixis-investment-managers. Natixis Investment Managers includes all of the investment management and distribution entities affiliated with Natixis Distribution, L.P. and Natixis Investment Managers S.A. Natixis Distribution, L.P. is a limited purpose broker-dealer and the distributor of various registered investment companies for which advisory services are provided by affiliates of Natixis Investment Managers.
Provided by Natixis Investment Managers Australia Pty Limited (ABN 60 088 786 289)(AFSL No.246830) and is intended for the general information of financial advisers and wholesale clients only.
2 Net asset value as at March 31, 2019, Assets under management (“AUM”), as reported, may include notional assets, assets serviced, gross assets and other types of non-regulatory AUM.