RUTH SUNDERLAND: City needs more women

The MeToo ghost is rampaging through the city. No sooner had the CBI won the support of its members after a sex scandal than a new spat broke out after an investigation into hedge fund manager Crispin Odey.

In case anyone thinks these kinds of accusations are unique to Britain, Wall Street is being torn apart by the fallout from Jeffrey Epstein, with Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JP Morgan, dragged into that quagmire along with Jes Staley, who went on to become the Barclays Bank took charge.

These cases paint a disturbing picture of alpha male predatory behavior and female vulnerability in the financial world.

Senior male executives I speak to feel a sense of danger. They worry that being accused of misconduct alone could destroy a career, even if they are innocent. They fear that clumsy remarks could be misinterpreted, with disastrous consequences.

These depictions of the workplace as cesspools of vice, accusation and counter-accusation are depressing. Apart from the terrible consequences for those directly affected, there is more indirect damage.

It would be a terrible shame if these scandals prevent women from making their way in male-dominated arenas like finance, where they are already underrepresented.

In Odey’s field of hedge funds, there are hardly any women on the cutting edge. His ex-wife, Nichola Pease, who stepped down as president of Jupiter Fund Management in April, is one of the few female asset managers to have made a name for herself in the field. Research from last year found that there are more men named Dave running UK investment funds than women in such positions.

That situation is unlikely to change if talented young women think they are exposed to sleazy male behavior.

Yet female fund managers often outperform men, especially in difficult market conditions. According to research, men trade significantly more than women and take more risks, which can have a negative impact on returns.

For investment firms, hiring women can be an antidote to a high testosterone culture and the reputational risks that come with it. So investors can lose, as can individual women whose potential is thwarted.

Financial journalism remains a predominantly male domain, although the Financial Times is now being edited by a woman for the first time. The FT investigation into Odey was led by a female reporter, who also exposed the infamous Presidents Club dinner. Make of it what you will.

The banking, economy and central banking system lack women’s input and this imbalance can do serious damage.

During the credit crunch, the question was asked whether, if Lehman Brothers had been Lehman Sisters, the company would have been so reckless. Who knows.

The economics profession is known for being addicted to complicated models and tends to have blinders on the real world.

As Alex Brummer reported in the Mail on Sunday this weekend, Labor wants the Bank of England’s interest rate setting committee to become more diverse. The party is wrong about many things, but not that.

Governor Andrew Bailey was too complacent about inflation. Millions of British women could have agreed with him, knowing that supermarket prices are rising. Would a female governor have been so rude – again, who knows? But in money matters it is dangerous to ignore women.