Bestinvest, the UK investment advisory and financial planning firm, has revealed that only 5 per cent of retail funds are managed by women.

In recent years the spotlight has turned on the lack of women directors on company boards, with David Cameron writing to FTSE 350 companies in 2011 asking them to set out targets for the proportion of female directors they will have on their boards by 2015 and encouraging FTSE 100 businesses to achieve 25 per cent female representation by 2015, the firm said.

Bestinvest estimates that only 5 per cent of retail investment funds, such as unit trusts and OEICs, are managed or co-managed by female fund managers. Bestinvest’s assessment is based on analysis of the five largest investment management association sectors, which show that the percentage of funds run by women ranged from just 2 per cent in the UK equity income sector to 7 per cent in the UK all-companies sector.

The focus on board representation has been given impetus by the work of the "30 per cent club", a group of company chairmen supported by several asset managers, which was founded by Helena Morrissey, chief executive of fund company Newton. Yet new research from leading private client group Bestinvest has revealed that while only around 17 per cent of current FTSE 100 company directors are female, women are considerably more under represented when it comes to the fund management profession that invests in these businesses.

“What is clearly important for the long-term health of the industry is that it attracts people from the widest pool of talent and potential. The fact that there are already some great role models should be a source of encouragement for women considering fund management as a career. Among well-established managers the leading star in our view is Julie Dean, who currently holds the top slot in the large and ultra-competitive IMA UK all-companies sector with the Cazenove UK Opportunities Fund, and who has recently been named as successor to Richard Buxton on the Schroder UK growth investment trust. However, lesser-known names who have clocked up some impressive results include SVM’s Margaret Lawson and Dalton Strategic Partner’s Henrietta Luk. Although our research was confined to open-ended funds, we would also highlight Katie Potts, manager of the Herald Investment Trust, and Alliance Trust’s Katherine Garrett-Cox as other highly-rated and successful investment managers,” said Jason Hollands, managing director, business development and communications at Bestinvest.