Financial services still not shaken ‘boys club’ perception

Despite more diverse voices now entering financial services, the industry is still perceived as a “boys club”, according to Alix Perry, mortgage and protection adviser at Orchard Financial Adviser Limited.Perry said while the number of women in the sector has grown, the perception of it from outsiders does not reflect this reality.“The boys club perception comes from how it’s represented everywhere, think of the Wolf of Wall Street for example, I think that’s the outside perspective of it,” she said. The change is reflected at Orchard, said Perry, where half the team are women. Perry thinks the industry could do more to encourage greater diversity, such as championing female financial advisers. “When you go to conferences a lot the people that you see presenting on stage are men despite the fact that a lot of business development managers are female,” she said.“When you see people from the banks up the stage it tends to be the men sitting there talking about it.“I don’t think it’s nece...