Former U.S. President Barack Obama spent the last years of his term trying to tighten regulations on financial advisers. The White House calculated that conflicts of interests cost U.S. investors $17 billion annually. President Donald Trump has said he wants to undo Obama’s so-called “fiduciary rule” before it takes effect this spring.
Only about a quarter of financial advisers are women, according to the new study. One way to improve how they’re treated on the job is to promote more women to leadership positions, it states. At firms with no female owners or executives, women were 42 percent more likely to be fired for misconduct than men. At firms in which men and women are equally represented in the executive suite, they are fired at equal rates after misconduct.
The study’s authors aren’t shy about naming names. They said that, among large firms, the highest rates of discrimination were at Wells Fargo Advisors LLC, a unit of Wells Fargo & Co. “Wells Fargo Advisors works every day to put our clients first,” the company said in a statement. “We will review this study carefully to examine its assumptions and conclusions. We will continue to focus on providing a diverse and inclusive work environment where all of our team members can thrive.”
Brokerage firms can’t just focus on hiring women—they must also feel included in the office, Sandy said: “I still hear from a lot of young women that say they still feel like an outsider in their firm.”
But even as Wall Street slowly moves toward equality, some continue to feed its darker reputation. Shortly after the Fearless Girl was set up in Lower Manhattan, a picture went viral of a young, well-dressed man in a business suit standing in front of the statue, pretending to have sex with it.
“That says it all,” Sandy said.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.