Black Women in Asset Management (BWAM), a non-profit organisation promoting the advancement of black women working in the asset management industry, has announced Ares Management, BlackRock, Federated Hermes, Helios Investment Partners, J.P. Morgan Asset Management, M&G plc, Maniyar Capital, Morningstar, Inc. and State Street Global Advisors as new institutional members.
According to BWAM, black women remain vastly underrepresented at all levels within the investment industry. A 2019 report by the Investment Association showed that less than 1 percent of investment managers in the UK are black.
BWAM aims to drive positive change by providing black women with tools needed to thrive, while also encouraging firms to create more inclusive environments. Formed in 2019, the organisation has quickly become a valuable community for investment professionals, lawyers, consultants, administrators, and other advisors in the asset management field. To date, BWAM has over 700 members.
BWAM chair and co-founder, Jacqueline Taiwo, stated: “Our new institutional members represent over USD 17 trillion of AUM in the global asset management industry. We are thrilled to be able to partner with a wide cohort of investment firms to advance BWAM’s mission to connect and empower Black women working across the investment ecosystem. Their support will accelerate BWAM’s impact in 2022, allowing the organisation to bring in new resources, and offer more career development, networking and visibility opportunities for Black women in asset management. We also look forward to expanding our existing outreach initiatives to encourage more young Black women to pursue careers in investment.”
Institutional membership in BWAM provides firms with a number of benefits to enhance their diversity strategies, including access to exclusive roundtables that offer fresh insight on how to recruit, retain and advance Black women in their organisations. These roundtables are facilitated by diversity, equity and inclusion experts and explore important topics such as psychological safety, allyship and inclusive leadership.
Justine Anderson, EMEA chief operating officer at BlackRock, added: “At BlackRock, we are committed to helping build a better, fairer society and the mission of Black Women in Asset Management (BWAM) is firmly aligned with our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion strategy. We know that empowering young Black women in the early stages of their careers is essential for advancing and retaining Black women leaders, whose positive impact within our workforce drives improved outcomes for our clients, our shareholders and all our stakeholders. That is why we are excited to sponsor BWAM and work together to drive the positive impact of the talented Black women who work in asset management.”
