RUTH SUNDERLAND: City needs more women

The MeToo spirit is sweeping through the City. No sooner had the CBI won the backing of its members following a sex scandal than a new row erupted after an investigation into hedge fund manager Crispin Odey.

In case anyone thinks allegations of this sort are unique to Britain, Wall Street is riven by the fallout over Jeffrey Epstein, with Jamie Dimon, the chief executive of JP Morgan, dragged into that morass, along with Jes Staley, who went on to lead Barclays bank.

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

Senior male executives I speak to feel a sense of jeopardy. They worry that merely being accused of misconduct could blight a career, even if they are blameless. They fear clumsy comments can be misinterpreted, with ruinous consequences.

These portrayals of the workplace as cesspits of vice, accusation and counter-accusation are depressing. Apart from the awful effects on those directly involved, there is wider indirect damage.

Blinkered: For investment firms, hiring women might act as an antidote to a high-testosterone culture and the risks to reputation that go along with it

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

In Odey’s area of expertise, hedge funds, there are barely any women at the sharp end. His ex-wife, Nichola Pease, who quit in April as chair of Jupiter Fund Management, is one of the few female asset managers to have made a name for herself in the field. Research last year found there are more men called Dave running UK investment funds than there are women in such positions.

That situation is not likely to change if talented young women believe they will be exposed to sleazy male behaviour.

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

For investment firms, hiring women might act as an antidote to a high-testosterone culture and the risks to reputation that go along with it. So investors may be losing out, as well as individual women whose potential is thwarted.

Financial journalism remains a predominantly male preserve though the Financial Times is now edited by a woman for the first time. The FT investigation into Odey was led by a female reporter, who also ran an expose into the notorious Presidents Club dinner. Make of that what you will.

Banking, economics and central banking are lacking in input from women and this imbalance may create serious harm.

In the credit crisis, questions were asked whether, if Lehman Brothers had been Lehman Sisters, the firm would have been so reckless. Who knows.

The economics profession is notoriously addicted to complicated models and prone to be blinkered about the real world.

As Alex Brummer reported in the Mail on Sunday this weekend, Labour wants the Bank of England committee that sets interest rates to be 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 put him right, being acquainted with rising prices in the supermarkets. Would a female governor have been so insouciant – again, who knows? But in money matters, it’s dangerous to ignore women.