AXA Investment Managers joins the 30% club

AXA Investment Managers (AXA IM) today announces its recent enrolment to the 30% club1 as part of wider efforts to drive best practice in gender equality.

Andrea Rossi, CEO of AXA IM, said: “We are convinced that to achieve sustainable gender balance at all levels, we must work to effect change, especially in the asset management industry that has traditionally been male dominated. The 30% club impressed me with the work they are doing in our industry; the visibility and attention that their campaigns have attracted and the dialogue it has stimulated amongst senior business leaders and the government. I also liked that they address building the female talent pipeline broadly – working from schoolroom to boardroom.  I look forward to collaborating with our peers to share best practice, learn from them and drive progress collectively.”

The 30% club requires that signatories commit to: publicly support increasing numbers of women on boards;  support initiatives to build the pipeline of women for executive and non-executive roles; and actively assist in recruiting and spreading the word to key influencers.

“We must attract more women into our workforce, and support them as they progress in their careers.  I can see first-hand the benefits of having a diverse senior leadership team, as we have strong female representation here at AXA IM2, and I am keen to build further on this and  correct gender imbalance in our workforce.  To that end the AXA IM Management Board members have a specific performance objective on diversity and inclusion to ensure delivery on our commitments.”

Walking the talk – AXA IM’s progress so far:

• AXA IM has signed the Women in Finance charter and therefore publicly pledged to significantly improve female representation within their global senior executive population by 2020. Currently one third of AXA IM’s senior executives are female.
• In order to both support and invest alongside companies that have ‘best in class’ diversity practices, AXA IM launched a Mix’In Perspectives strategy in 2017 allowing us to promote the message that diversity has a positive economic impact on companies.
• AXA IM is also an active participant in the 30% Investor Group – a group of investors working together to engage on a collaborative basis with companies lagging behind peers on gender diversity and to support the efforts of investee companies in promoting diversity as a strategic issue.

Rossi adds: “As long-term active investors we are influencing boards to support the push for diversity throughout all levels of the company and  will exercise our voting rights to underpin our engagement on this important issue.   In addition to engaging with companies on gender topics, we will be using our votes to send a clear message to companies which continue to underperform on gender diversity at board level. We see it as a key component of governance and therefore closely linked to our efforts and ambitions as a responsible investor and a responsible employer3.”