Figures show that women make up 10.9% of senior employees at hedge funds
UBS has launched a portfolio that only invests in hedge funds headed up by women.
The move is a part of the Swiss investment bank’s wider efforts to focus on diversity and identify untapped potential within the industry.
UBS’s launch of the ‘Carmen’ portfolio came after an initial trial phase, the Financial Times reported.
The funds will select 10-15 funds across the world where a woman has sole or joint discretion over the investment decision making.
However, UBS is not the first to make such a move. Last year Aberdeen Standard Investments launched a fun that monitors the performance of an index of hedge funds run by women.
Carmen will be actively managed, making use of quantitative and other analysis to find funds to invest in.
Women in Hedge Funds
Interest in women-led hedge funds is growing, as large investment companies seek to ensure their investments meet the criteria of environmental, social and governance (ESG) credentials.
Hedge funds are one of the worst performing asset classes for female representation, at 18.6%. This is according to data revealed by Preqin, as reported in the Financial Times.
Figures show that women make up 10.9% of senior employees at hedge funds, up slightly from the year before.
Claire Tucker, senior investment officer at UBS’s hedge funds unit, told the Financial Times that women were “under-represented, particularly on the investment side, despite a lack of evidence justifying that by skill or performance differences”.