The number of women employed by the Canadian wealth management industry rose last year, in contrast with female recruitment figures in the rest of the country’s capital markets sector. According to international research firm Catalyst, the female wealth management contingent climbed to 39 per cent from 37 per cent the year before.

Six of Canada’s largest financial institutions - Financial Group, CIBC, National Bank Financial Group, RBC, Scotiabank Group, and TD Bank Financial Group - sponsored and participated in the study, which mapped recruitment trends from 2000.

The 2 per cent increase is a small change, but one that is significant when compared with sector-wide results that show men outnumber women four to one at all levels bar administrative.

But this increase must be seen in the context of the recent growth in the industry. The number of people working in capital markets was up 12 per cent last year from 2005 - but the percentage of women barely changed.

Adding to the bad news is the breakdown of the private client sector figures, which make the 2008 increase seem less encouraging. Women’s share of line positions at managing director and above level was 9 per cent in 2008, a decrease from 11 per cent in 2000, and driven by large declines in the number of women investment advisors at this level, the report said.

Women held 15 per cent of management line positions in 2008, a decrease of 6 percentage points since 2000, and 31 percent of national or regional management positions, unchanged since 2000.  

An industry organisation that works to counteract this trend, Women In Capital Markets, responded unhappily to the results and called for change in Canadian financial recruitment.

“We acknowledge that systemic, cultural change is a slow-moving process and there is no single reason as to why we are not seeing more positive results,” said chief executive Martha Fell, in a statement.

“We can only interpret these findings as a wake-up call to the capital markets industry. More action is needed by the industry to set diversity as a priority and hold executives accountable for change,” she added.