‘Murky disparity’ stalls progress

investmentnews.com:

Women appear to be making some advance in the broad financial advice industry, with an increase in the numbers of women getting the certified financial planning designation last year just one example of that.   

There are roughly 320,000 working brokers and financial advisors in the United States, and for years women have been underrepresented; they make up about 20% of the financial advisors working right now.   

But recent claims of pay discrimination, retaliation and sexual harassment by Genevieve Sisco, a former recruiter at Advisor Group, now Osaic, underscore that change in the financial advice industry may come in fits and starts.   

In her complaint, which was filed in federal court in Iowa at the end of August, Sisco alleges she was fired in 2022 by Advisor Group and the broker-dealer where she worked, SagePoint Financial Inc., for complaining about her pay and compensation, along with her role in the investigation of an allegedly personal relationship in the office of senior management.   

“The company fired Sisco in retaliation for her protected complaints regarding pay equity as well as for her participation in the company’s investigation into sexual misconduct by the romantic partner of the current CEO,” the complaint alleges.   

In contrast to Sisco’s allegations, Advisor Group, which rebranded as Osaic, has purposefully worked to promote women, assembling a leadership team in which six of the 14 senior executive positions are filled by women, as InvestmentNews noted last year.   

While the financial advice industry publicly clamors for diversity, many large firms have a poor history of hiring women, along with minorities. But according to InvestmentNews data, Advisor Group reported that 33.4% of its