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- The issue of transformation, gender diversity and inclusion took centre stage in this year's Old Mutual Tomorrow conference.
- Old Mutual Investment Group admits that the financial sector is the worst-performing in this regard.
- Speakers say the industry needs diversity in thinking and background of decision-makers because these forms manage the money of workers who look different from them.
- For more financial news, go to the News24 Business front page.
When Lizé Lambrechts retired as Santam CEO in 2022, she left only one female CEO in listed financial firms: JSE CEO, Leila Fourie. When Daniel Mminele and Basani Maluleke parted ways with Absa and African Bank, it left Sim Tshabalala as the only black CEO heading a banking group.
Bidvest Financial Services CEO Hannah Sadiki only leads a subsidiary of the listed Bidvest Group, and so does Standard Bank's Lungisa Fuzile and Funeka Montjane, to name a few.
The debate about transformation and seemingly limited opportunities for women in the financial services sector is a long-standing one. And it ignited the fire again at this year's Old Mutual Investment Group's "Tomorrow" conference.
Association for Savings and Investment South Africa (Asisa) CEO, Busisa Jiya, said there was nothing "incredibly special" about the skills needed in the financial sector to preclude a particular race or gender from doing a great job.
While Jiya acknowledged the strides that the industry has made to embrace transformation, he said the problem is that SA was trying to address this issue as if it affects the minority of the population, whereas the disadvantaged race and gender was a majority.
He said:
Jiya said the majority contributes significantly to companies' bottom lines as workers, customers and clients.
PwC's 2022 executive director's report also showed that black Africans made up 14% of CEOs in JSE-listed companies. Indians and other Asians make up 7%. Only 1% of CEOs were coloured, while the remaining 78% were white.
READ | SA now has more women execs at large companies - but they earn 31% less than men
However, Jiya applauded Asisa members for the large sums of money they spent on training and developing black staff. Still, that expenditure does not seem to translate to the elevation of black employees in these companies. He said black Africans are still under-represented in all levels of management. And the industry needs to do more.
"If you look at the spend in skills development, it's there. When you look at the results of that spend, it's not filtering through," he said, adding that the financial sector excels in meeting black economic empowerment targets in areas like ownership, "but the challenge is where the people are".
But the head of stewardship at the Old Mutual Investment Group, Nicol Martens, said saying the sector needs to do more was being "diplomatic".
"What we should say is it's not good enough. We've had how many years? We've not made an effort, and our industry is one of the worst performers," she said.
She said transformation shouldn't be a box-ticking exercise. SA's financial services sector needs to get to the point where the people making the decisions about workers' money don't have to imagine what the majority of those workers are going through.
They need to be people who understand it because they, too, have been there. She urged pension fund members and investors to also start asking their asset management and administration companies when they plan to have black portfolio managers taking care of their money.
Alexforbes Investments CEO, Ann Leepile, said that when they introduced their new transformation policy in 2022, it received mixed responses.
Alexforbes set minimum black representation requirements for fund managers who want to deal with it in future and gave those who don't comply until 1 July 2025 to do so.
"The response has been interesting," she said.
Leepile said Alexforbes' policy was never meant to be exclusionary. It's all about inclusion. Yet many people raised concerns about their children's ability to get jobs in future.
"There is room for everybody. But the discomfort of what is not normal to you, what is not comfortable to you, is not a disadvantage. It serves the entire industry well. It brings a different perspective, different thinking," she added.
