Finance firms in London are struggling to boost gender diversity – an important issue in the UK and Europe – in an increasingly lucrative area of finance, as just 9 per cent of Britain’s algorithmic traders are female, data suggests.
There are likely no more than 140 women in Jon Sindreuin the UK, compared to more than 1,450 men, according to an analysis of regulatory data. The proportion of female algo traders has improved since 2020, when it stood at 6 per cent, but has remained broadly the same compared to previous analysis a year ago.
“It is disheartening but unsurprising to see the lack of progress when it comes to gender diversity within the front-office trading community over the last year,” said Virginie O’Shea, chief executive of capital markets advisory firm Firebrand Research.
The records were obtained of professionals certified under “algorithmic trading” roles in the Financial Conduct Authority’s register. The FCA does not track people’s gender, but does record the salutations they use. Looking back from late February, 1,112 algo traders went by ‘Mr’, while 105 used either ‘Miss’, Mrs’ or ‘Ms’. Around 24 per cent of algo traders either had a gender-neutral or did not provide any.
“Firms might give a lot of lip service to saying they are trying to get women on board, but they have to be prepared to make significant cultural changes to attract them to keep them,” said Niki Beattie, CEO of consultancy Market Structure Partners. “In my experience, few firms are willing to make that complete shift in mindset.”
A lack of female representation has plagued finance, mathematics, engineering and science – sectors that marry with the world of algo trading, where complex computer programmes automatically open and close positions in fractions of seconds. Heavy hiring has done little to shift the dial. The total number of UK registered algo traders has roughly doubled over the past six years to around 1,600, according to the FCA data.
“The problem is it becomes circular,” Beattie said. “The fewer the women you have, the more one-dimensional the culture, and the more one-dimensional the culture, the less attractive it is to women.”
O’Shea said a “tech bro dynamic” had negatively impacted the industry. She noted the growing popularity of controversial “monosphere” influencers among new generations entering the workplace and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s comments last year that most companies need more “masculine energy”.
“The lack of Diversity, Equality, Inclusion (DEI) policies as a recourse to address these issues is extremely worrying from a future diversity standpoint,” O’Shea added.
Banks, asset managers and hedge funds have piled into algo trading as they look to capitalise on the latest advancements in technology. The electronification of financial markets has also seen the explosive growth of specialist market-makers and proprietary trading firms that bet their own capital at massive volumes.
These jobs pay hefty sums. It is not uncommon for quantitative trading firms in London to hire top PhD graduates on annual compensation of £250,000, and these deals can reach £800,000 in some cases, as has been previously reported.
President Donald Trump’s policies have seen Wall Street firms and some European banks operating in the US scrap aspirational hiring and promotions targets for under-represented groups.
“The wholesale move away from diversity, equality and inclusion programmes at most major financial institutions continues,” O’Shea said, adding that rowbacks by large US institutions have “filtered down to the smaller UK firms.” “After more than a decade of significant impetus to improve the workplace and opportunities for women, it has become easier for firms and individuals to start to make excuses again,” Beattie said.
Last year, UK regulators backtracked on plans to launch fresh DEI rules following criticism from London firms and politicians. The proposals included diversity targets for companies and forcing larger firms to disclose information about employees’ sexual orientation, gender, ethnicity and religion.
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
