Hedge funds for the most part are small firms that tap their talent from the banking industry. Therefore, their relatively limited talent pool makes it tough to increase diversity within their senior ranks, they say.
Regulatory U.S. data from 2019 shows that just 8.9% of hedge fund firms were run by ethnic minorities, including Latinos, Blacks, Asians and Native Americans. “I’d like to see more Black faces in different areas across the hedge fund and asset management community,” says Ansumana Bai-Marrow, chief compliance officer at Cairn Capital. “I don’t see any Black money managers, people making investment decisions, or Black salespeople.”
But Floyd’s killing has prompted big time hedge fund investors, including U.S. pension funds, to inquire about diversity, hedge fund industry consultants note. “In the past, maybe 5% of our clients would engage us on this, now it’s more like a quarter,” says Chris Redmond, head of manager research at consultancy Willis Towers Watson. “Investors are asking who is on our list of hedge funds who have had good racial and gender diversity.”