Six months on from establishing their Luxembourg chapter, the Women in Asset Servicing group speak to Jack McRae about their progress, ambitions and developing safe spaces for women
“You need to be positive and curious.” Myriam Aswad, Luxembourg board member and founding member of the Luxembourg chapter of Women in Asset Servicing (WiAS), has learnt what it takes to guide women in the world of asset servicing.
With over two decades of experience in the industry in Luxembourg, Aswad wants to give back. “It takes a lot of commitment, but it’s rewarding because you meet so many new people and have new opportunities. It’s a really exciting journey and one you have to be open minded for.”
WiAS has grown, and helped others grow, from strength to strength since their founding in the UK in 2018. Faced with the need to expand, the group formed its Luxembourg chapter six months ago – and they are not looking back.
Two Rivers
Kate Webber, founder of WiAS, saw the need for her growing number of peers in Luxembourg to have their own base. She describes the importance of the asset servicing industry in the nation, believing women were not being given enough support in the country.
The creation of the Luxembourg chapter has given Aswad, alongside Gaelle Bernard, the opportunity to build WiAS in their own image, moulded by the aspirations of women in Luxembourg.
“Myriam [Aswad] is gently building this network into a safe space that facilitates her events in Luxembourg,” Webber explains. “She is really trying to get visibility and draw on the [WiAS] brand. It’s almost her own network, but within the context of something wider. She can pull on all the stuff that WiAS has done before and continue to be as successful.”
After speaking to Asset Servicing Times last year on WIAS’s five-year anniversary, Webber, an industry stalwart with over 25 years experience, emphasises her determination to the cause has still not wavered.
Speaking with an intensity that is underscored by incredible humility, Webber steers our conversation away from her achievements. WiAS is not about her, it never has been.
Yet, there are similarities between when Webber first established the network and the new chapter in Luxembourg. She remembers: “In the early days of WiAS in the UK, I would be going out and talking to people one-by-one, drawing them in and trying to create advocates.”
For Aswad and the Luxembourg chapter, they are reaping the rewards of their hard work already.
“Gaelle’s [Bernard] and my networks combined like two rivers merging into one,” Aswad explains, drawing her index fingers together. “We have built these networks over 20 years in the industry in Luxembourg, and that has reinforced the foundation for WiAS.”
Just six months since their inception, WiAS Luxembourg is up, running and soaring. “I think we achieved significant milestones over the past six months,” Aswad says. “We have witnessed a significant rise in participation at our events, our LinkedIn connections and website sign-ups.”
Not only is expanding their network of importance to the group, but ensuring this expansive network is both seen and heard, is just as vital. Aswad emphasises that, “WiAS is becoming more visible in the industry in Luxembourg, and we have been invited to represent women at key events in the marketplace.
“When we realised diverse networks were really the key for success, then our shared goal to empower women grew stronger.”
That first step
Webber sees only two potential options — either women are included at the forefront of the industry, or women are not included and the industry won’t survive. She envisions: “It’s not just about diversity, gender equity or inclusion anymore, it’s about the future of our businesses. Women are the investors of the future and we have got to get more women into senior positions.
“If we see women as a vanguard and change leadership profiles for women, the next generation will be able to work just as well.”
WiAS aims to provide a safe space for young women to be able to seek advice, support and companionship in the financial industry — long perceived as an ‘old boys club’ — to help them develop into senior positions.
Aswad explains: “Many unconscious biases persist and affect the way women are perceived in the workplace. It’s really important that we continue to get that support and work hand-in-hand with men [to challenge these attitudes].”
Webber laughs at the simplicity of some biases, saying: “If your website shows only old, grey-haired, white men at the top of an organisation, it is not particularly conducive to younger women wanting to join.”
However, Webber does not wish to limit the boundaries faced by women to just the asset servicing industry, but encourages a holistic perspective. She stresses that WiAS is not ‘fighting the industry’ — instead, they are breaking down societal constraints.
“We still bring girls up to be perfect and boys to take more risks,” Webber vents incredulously. “WiAS supports young women, and some young men, to take that step and realise that when they jumped off the springboard, they haven’t fallen off a cliff, life does go on and they’ve actually succeeded.”
This point is expanded upon by Sarah Sandle, marketing manager at Embark Group — sponsor of WiAS. Sandle says with clarity: “Confidence, that’s what it’s about, isn’t it? Underlying confidence. I think the person women compete with is actually themselves a lot of the time.
“Sometimes they feel that it is a failure to ask for help. In general, women tend to ask permission to do things, when a male psyche is to just do it and then seek forgiveness afterwards.”
Coaxing young people to make that step, however, is the toughest challenge. Yet, this is the key role of the WiAS for Webber, who “keep[s] seeing that women don’t necessarily feel able to take that first step on their own. We have to be very encouraging to support them.”
One of the ways in which WiAS is supporting young women, is through the creation of mentorship schemes. Webber, alongside other senior figures in the industry, will lead smaller groups to offer advice. She wants to “facilitate personal networks within the network, and use mentoring and access to leadership as the way to spring forward.” A greater stumbling block proves to be getting young people involved in the network initially. Webber speaks to the fears young people hold in having to “feel established in their own career before they feel sufficiently comfortable to join a network.”
Webber believes WiAS has to adapt to help the next generation of women to transform the industry. She appreciates that young people don’t always have the appetite for scheduled, in-person events, and WiAS are “trying to create almost podcast-type events that can then be listened to whilst you’re walking the dog or sitting on the train. We are starting to understand younger members want stuff on demand, as opposed to when we have scheduled it.”
The transforming potential of young people cannot be underestimated, and Sandle knows this all too well. She expresses: “The younger women involved in WiAS are great advocates and the best on social media. I’m making myself sound old now, but they understand the importance of a digital presence and can give us the information that perhaps we’re lacking.”
Younger women are not the only ones facing challenges though, and even the most senior and experienced in the industry face difficulties. WiAS aims to bring all women in the industry together, regardless of how young or old, because they all share a common goal.
Webber becomes adamant, saying: “We can get women through the door, but holding them is really important. Women in their 40s and 50s stop working because they no longer feel valued and they’re exhausted by that.”
The marathon ahead
What areas does WiAS and its Luxembourg chapter need to develop further to help address the issues raised throughout our lengthy chat?
Aswad describes her immediate goals for the Luxembourg chapter, she explains: “In another six months, I would like to have further reinforced our network. We will be more visible, stronger and prouder. That’s my wish.
“We will collaborate with other organisations because, in the end, we are stronger together. We want to convince the new generation that we are successful and can help them navigate through this complex landscape.”
For Webber, she takes a moment to reflect on what she and the rest of WiAS have accomplished. How rewarding does it feel that her hard work has helped so many women in the industry?
“Oh God, it’s amazing,” Webber exudes positivity. “It’s a really good feeling to watch individuals go completely out of their comfort zone and then come back to you six months later and show how they’ve used that one step to think, ‘If I can do that, I can do it all.’ That is incredibly powerful.”
Mentoring and leading the next generation of women in the asset servicing industry is a privilege for Webber, but one she cannot enjoy forever.
“[Within the next 10 years,] I hope somebody from the next generation will come along and want to take WiAS forward,” she says dogmatically. “The network has grown to cover areas we found difficult in developing our careers. But, the next generation are going to find different things that they have to overcome.”
Webber expands: “There’s no point in WiAS continually fulfilling the wishes of 50-year-old women. In order to have longevity and meaning, it’s got to be run by the next generation of women who want to take it to the next step.”
The next stages are crucial for WiAS, and opening more and more chapters in different countries is the dream, but one that will take time to arrive at. Webber insists it is ‘not a sprint’, but ‘a marathon’. Each step is a step closer to completing that marathon, the destination unknown.
She says encouragingly: “We bring everybody on the journey in increments, generation by generation. It’s only just over 100 years ago that women got the vote. It was only in 1980 that women were allowed mortgages without a male guarantor.”
It may be a road that stretches beyond the horizon, and they may have a distance to travel, but WiAS are not going to stop progressing.
Webber concludes with a defiant, rallying call: “We have come a long way but that doesn’t mean we should rest on our laurels and be self congratulatory.
“We need to keep moving forward.”
