The latest supporter of Fondsfrauen is Kathrein Privatbank, headquartered in Vienna. By offering flexible working options, the bank provides its employees with the necessary flexibility, which women in particular are happy to take advantage of. In addition, the bank organizes seminars that specifically encourage women to take care of their own financial situation. We interview Eleonore Leder, Head of Business Management & Development.
Ms. Leder, why is diversity an topic at your company? What do you expect from more diversity as a company?
As Kathrein private bank with an international customer structure, we experience diversity as a great enrichment for our customers as well as in our daily cooperation. We are 120 employees, 10 different mother tongues are spoken and we have a 50% share of men in management.
Do you keep track in your company of how many women apply for management positions, how many women come back to the company after parental leave, or similar figures?
We are pleased that many female employees are returning after their parental part-time leave and offer very flexible working patterns and hours, also for women in senior and management positions. In terms of the proportion of female applicants, we see differences depending on the specialist area. Unfortunately, the banking & finance environment is generally less in demand from women, which is why we also very much support the idea and initiatives of the Fund Women, who are making an important contribution here to raising awareness of the attractiveness of this career field.
How is diversity promoted in your company? Do you perhaps even have special programs to promote women?
Due to our small size, women at Kathrein Privatbank have a variety of opportunities to contribute their skills and to be recognized for their qualities and contributions, especially by the management team. This often results in options for job enlargement and job enrichment.
What does your company offer to enable flexible working - for parents of young children, for example?
The technical infrastructure allows spatial independence, and in addition we offer very flexible options for the arrangement of the location and extent of working hours, depending on the type of activity.
Do you perceive women as a separate customer group or do you even offer special women's or gender products?
We offer events in which we specifically address women in order to support them in taking care of their own financial situation in a targeted manner and to better understand suitable financial products for this purpose. This is an aspect that is unfortunately still too often delegated to partners or husbands. We offer sustainable funds that tend to be preferred by women.
What do you think women should do if they want to pursue a career in the fund industry? What should they keep in mind?
The banking industry and the fund industry in particular offer a lot of interesting and exciting fields of work and are currently developing very dynamically (e.g. in the area of digitalization & sustainability), which is why it is worthwhile to get a taste of it and reflect for yourself where you would most like to contribute your own interests. There are numerous exciting opportunities.
Thank you very much for the interview, and welcome to Fondsfrauen!
Persons in the photo from left to right:
Christine Janeczek, Jana Skalickova, Silvia Ruzicka-Kirstein, Brigitte Komatz, Sigrid Bernleitner-Sekerka, Sylvia Pemmer, Miriam Klenner, Petra Weissenbäck, Birgit Fleischmann, Vanda Kovacs-Wild, Margit Fuchs, Andrea Lerch, Claudia Vince-Bsteh, Eleonore Leder, Juno
Anke Dembowski is a financial journalist and author of various investment fund-related and other financial books. She is also a co-founder of the "Fondsfrauen" network.