Bloomberg Launches Australia & New Zealand Chapter of Women’s Buy-side Network

Bloomberg launched the Australia & New Zealand chapter of the Bloomberg Women’s Buy-side Network (“BWBN”), expanding its growing buy-side community beyond chapters in Singapore, India, Hong Kong and Japan. Comprising a few of the region’s most influential asset owners and asset managers, the chapter aims to inspire next generation investors, elevate female role-models, and grow the pipeline of female leaders in asset management.

Established in 2018, the BWBN is a community for women in the asset management industry, who hold a shared vision of building the next generation of female buy-side leaders in Asia. The network’s activities have served to promote meritocracy and inclusion in the industry and educate on the diversity of buy-side career paths through meaningful engagement and active mentorship. This has included hosting a global “Next-Gen Connect” event with TARA and GAIN to connect top investors with university students across Asia, Europe and Middle East, webinars on industry themes such as the Future of Pension Financing, and mentoring middle-level professionals. The network recently published a 2021 Outlook report, which uncovered key investments themes around sustainability and diversity for 2021 and beyond.

Leading the community as executive members for the Australia and New Zealand chapter are Susan Buckley, Managing Director, Liquid Markets Group at QIC; Sue Brake, Chief Investment Officer at the Future Fund; Cassandra Crowe, Vice President at T. Rowe Price; Sonya Sawtell-Rickson, Chief Investment Officer at HESTA, Matt Whineray, Chief Executive Officer at New Zealand Superannuation and James Bell, Head of Bloomberg Australia & New Zealand.

“We aim to ‘inspire, elevate and grow’ our next generation of leaders. As an industry, we can do better to inspire more young women to forge a career in the exciting world of investing, to make meaningful impact as custodians of capital, and be a part of solving future challenges like climate and sustainability.” said Susan Buckley, Managing Director, Liquid Markets Group at QIC.

Sue Brake, Chief Investment Officer at the Future Fund, agrees, “Inspiration and leadership are key to attracting the next generation of talented women from across diverse areas into asset management. We want driven, highly capable young women to be curious and intrigued about financial markets and investing, and to realise their full potential in leading on the future design and growth of this industry. Having more female role models from the buy-side can help inspire that change.”

“We need to highlight the greater purpose of investment management; we have an amazing opportunity to be a force for good and to make impact through our investment decisions. We need to further tap into the potential of future leaders and role modelling from the top is critical. For example, CFA Institute research shows that 1 in 10 CEO’s, CIOs or CFO’s in investment management globally are female. Clearly, this needs to change, and I believe a community like the Bloomberg Women’s Buy-side Network can help shine the spotlight and advance more females in leadership roles.” Cassandra Crowe, Vice President, T. Rowe Price said.

“More than 80% of our members are women, which offers us diversity of thought in this challenging, meaningful and purpose-driven industry. As a leading asset owner that invests for the long-term, we hope to be able to inspire more women to appreciate the role of the buy-side, and the lasting impact we can make in areas across climate, community, education, and social development.” said Sonya Sawtell-Rickson, Chief Investment Officer, HESTA.

Matt Whineray, Chief Executive Officer, Guardians of New Zealand Superannuation, added “Finding a way to attract women into our industry is one of the biggest challenges we face; however, it’s likely to have a significant effect on how our industry changes for the better over the long term. Long-term success as an investor requires us to seek out and support more diverse thinking and perspectives. We are committed to building our pipeline of female talent and enabling the exceptional female talent we already have.”

“We are delighted to build our community in Australia and New Zealand where there is already an active debate to promote meritocracy and diversity in finance,” said James Bell, Head of Bloomberg Australia and New Zealand. “We are focussing in on the buy-side industry as it delivers significant long-term impact, not only for those it directly serves but for the world it creates through its investment decisions. It is a privilege to work with such high calibre leaders of this chapter to help champion a more inclusive and diverse future for the next generation of female investors.”

If you are interested in being part of this network, please reach out to bwbnausnz@bloomberg.net. For more information on the Bloomberg Women’s Buy-side Network, click here.

About BWBN

The Bloomberg Women’s Buy-Side Network (BWBN) is an informal community for women in asset management in Asia. Launched in 2018 in Singapore, the network has expanded to local chapters in India, Japan, Hong Kong, Australia/New Zealand and is helmed by some of the most influential buy-side leaders in the region. The BWBN convenes women in the buy side on global investment trends, serves to promote inclusion in the industry and, through active mentorship, educates the younger generation on the diversity of buy-side careers.