Response to eBA and ESMA launch consultation to revise joint guidelines for assessing the suitability of members of the management body and key function holders
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Assogestioni believes that the recommendations provided in the consultation document in order to facilitate an appropriately diverse pool of candidates for management body positions, can contribute to remedy to the widespread weaknesses in institutions’ diversity policies and in the representation of the underrepresented gender, found by EBA in its diversity benchmarking exercise.
In particular, Assogestioni appreciates the choice of the Authorities to provide further guidance that, beyond the definition of general principles, identifies some of the main measures that should facilitate a more diverse pool of candidates for management body positions and should help to improve diversity at the level of other staff with managerial responsibilities.
The principles and the measures indicated by the Authorities are in line with those ones suggested by this Association in its own guidelines on diversity and inclusion in the SGR, SICAV and SICAF, approved in September 2019 by the Board of Directors of Assogestioni (that you can find uploaded as an attachment of this response). The aforesaid guidelines are aimed at supporting asset managers in defining diversity and inclusion procedures and policies for the asset managers’ corporate bodies. They also provide for measures and best practices aimed at promoting equal treatment and opportunities between genders within the entire corporate organization.
From this perspective, Assogestioni shares that: (i) intermediaries should respect the principle of equal opportunities for any gender and take measures to improve a more gender balanced composition of staff in management positions in order to ensure that there is overall a more gender balanced pool of candidates for positions within the management body; (ii) the aspect of appropriate gender representation should be taken into account when selecting staff for management positions or when providing management training; (iii) intermediaries should consider having policies that facilitate the reintegration of staff after maternity or parental leave.
In order to pursue gender balance during the staff selection’s phase in an efficient and effective manner, in our opinion, a balance should be ensured not only among the candidates but also among the recruiters. In other words, both in the selection of the staff and in the selection of members of the corporate bodies, the internal policies should provide for the balanced involvement of people of both genders.
Assogestioni also suggests to take the chance of this review to take into account the provisions of the European legislator in the Investment Firms Directive when it requires investment firms to adopt gender-neutral remuneration policies and to ensure that the remuneration committee, where established, has a gender balanced composition.
Question 4: Are the requirements in section 12 sufficiently clear; are there additional measures that should be required to ensure that diversity is appropriately taken into account by institutions and that the principle of equal opportunities for all genders is appropriately reflected?
Assogestioni, the Italian Investment Management Association, welcomes the opportunity to respond to question 4 of the Consultation Paper on the Draft joint ESMA and EBA Guidelines on the assessment of the suitability of members of the management body and key function holders under Directive 2013/36/EU and Directive 2014/65/EU.Assogestioni believes that the recommendations provided in the consultation document in order to facilitate an appropriately diverse pool of candidates for management body positions, can contribute to remedy to the widespread weaknesses in institutions’ diversity policies and in the representation of the underrepresented gender, found by EBA in its diversity benchmarking exercise.
In particular, Assogestioni appreciates the choice of the Authorities to provide further guidance that, beyond the definition of general principles, identifies some of the main measures that should facilitate a more diverse pool of candidates for management body positions and should help to improve diversity at the level of other staff with managerial responsibilities.
The principles and the measures indicated by the Authorities are in line with those ones suggested by this Association in its own guidelines on diversity and inclusion in the SGR, SICAV and SICAF, approved in September 2019 by the Board of Directors of Assogestioni (that you can find uploaded as an attachment of this response). The aforesaid guidelines are aimed at supporting asset managers in defining diversity and inclusion procedures and policies for the asset managers’ corporate bodies. They also provide for measures and best practices aimed at promoting equal treatment and opportunities between genders within the entire corporate organization.
From this perspective, Assogestioni shares that: (i) intermediaries should respect the principle of equal opportunities for any gender and take measures to improve a more gender balanced composition of staff in management positions in order to ensure that there is overall a more gender balanced pool of candidates for positions within the management body; (ii) the aspect of appropriate gender representation should be taken into account when selecting staff for management positions or when providing management training; (iii) intermediaries should consider having policies that facilitate the reintegration of staff after maternity or parental leave.
In order to pursue gender balance during the staff selection’s phase in an efficient and effective manner, in our opinion, a balance should be ensured not only among the candidates but also among the recruiters. In other words, both in the selection of the staff and in the selection of members of the corporate bodies, the internal policies should provide for the balanced involvement of people of both genders.
Assogestioni also suggests to take the chance of this review to take into account the provisions of the European legislator in the Investment Firms Directive when it requires investment firms to adopt gender-neutral remuneration policies and to ensure that the remuneration committee, where established, has a gender balanced composition.