Bev Stewart, partner in Stonehage Fleming’s Jersey family office division, sat down with Meg Winton to discuss the challenges facing women in finance, and how the firm is approaching these.
What do you feel are the challenges women face in the finance industry?
If you were to recount the history of finance, you’d be telling a story in which almost all the roles are played by men. While that has started to change in the last decade or so, it’s not something that can be changed easily or quickly.
The history is relevant, but so is the fact is that the experience of being a woman is different from the experience of being a man. While the gap is starting to close, in my experience women still do the bulk of childcare and domestic chores and we face different societal pressures.
The result is that women earn less than men, on average, are not as well represented in leadership, often face bias, stereotyping and tougher scrutiny in performance reviews.
Do you believe there has been progress made for women in finance?
There has been enormous progress with many more opportunities available to women these days. And attitudes are changing; the finance world is a better place for women than it was when I started my career 20 years ago.
Corporates are more intentional around equality and hiring practices, with many firms creating diversity and inclusion committees and policies. They’re also monitoring promotions and hiring practices and are committed to removing traditional barriers for women.
Flexibility around working practices has also helped by both enabling men to take on more domestic responsibilities and allowing women to better structure their work and personal lives.
Crucially, there is now a lot more open dialogue, more men supporting women and more women supporting other women.
What are Stonehage Fleming’s values when it comes to promoting gender diversity?
Stonehage Fleming’s values are Moral Courage, Excellence and Family. They are what attracted me to the company and they are all relevant when it comes to women employees’ experience at the company.
Moral Courage empowers everyone in the organisation to raise their hand and to speak up about any injustices. That flows right through the organisation, from the board down and it can be very powerful.
It encourages open, constructive and respectful debate – nothing is off the table.
Our value of Family demonstrates that not only do we support families, but the firm recognises that we also have families that we look after. That translates into supportive working practices.
How does Stonehage Fleming support its women colleagues?
Stonehage Fleming has a goal of actively supporting women and sustainably improving its gender diversity record. The company has made good progress – we have a progressive and supportive senior management team that promotes and embraces not only gender parity, but also equality across ethnicities and cultures. Stonehage Fleming has 19 offices across 14 jurisdictions, so it’s vital for that message to come from the top and flow through the organisation.
There are many senior people in the business – both men and women – who go out of their way to provide support for women across the business. Personally, I have experienced that backing, and I’m committed to paying it forward to future generations of women. For me, that has come in the form of both a sponsor (someone supporting me when I’m not in the room) and a mentor.
We have a diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) committee; it hosts initiatives throughout the group and creates a space to host constructive conversations. The focus is not on token initiatives, but rather to put the issues on the table, debate them and create strategies to support a working environment where everyone can thrive. It’s not a perfect world: things usually don’t change overnight, but it’s important that we work towards a common goal over time.
Are there any initiatives that stand out?
I was impressed with the Stonehage Fleming XV, which showcased 15 incredible women outside of the business. It was designed to create a community of women who could connect and collaborate through shared ideas and experiences, while leveraging the Stonehage Fleming network to the cohort.
I attended the flagship event in London, and it was inspiring to hear their stories and the challenges many of these women have faced. I realised that a lot of what they experienced in real life is what I’ve experienced and is completely normal, even for such phenomenal women.
What do you hope to see in the future when it comes to gender diversity? How is Stonehage Fleming contributing to that?
I hope to see continued conversations, more men supporting women, and more women in senior positions.
We have board representation on the DEI committee to ensure that these important issues get senior level attention.
Stonehage Fleming’s senior management team is very supportive when it comes to unblocking barriers and promoting women to senior positions. Our Switzerland, Guernsey, Malta, Jersey and London family office teams are all, or have been, headed by women.
There is, of course, more to be done but I am hopeful that together we can #AccelerateAction, as the theme of IWD 2025 urges us to do.