The death of a Julius Baer private banker following botox injections at a clinic in Hong Kong has shocked Asia's banking industry. A personal reflection.
By Shruti Advani, Editor-at-large, finews.com
Banking is an industry where women not only outnumber men at some of the largest banks – women account for 60 percent of employees at UBS in Asia – but they have also been the industry's defining influences. UBS' Kathy Shih, Mignonne Cheng of BNP Paribas, J. Safra Sarasin's Enid Yip, and Amy Lo at UBS – the list is long.
However, in the wake of the death of a Julius Baer private banker in Hong following Botox treatments, the industry faces tough questions. Are successful women subject to pressures regarding their physical appearance that men are immune to?
Judged on Looks?
Prima facie, as someone who has worked in and around the Asian financial services industry for close to a decade, I believe this is untrue. I have seen too many brilliant women do truly remarkable things, to believe that we are judged solely on our appearance.
But I decided to open the conversation to a wider circle of women and men – all of whom are private bankers or their managers, in Asia – with surprising results.
Higher Heels
«It is easy to tell which women work in the investment bank and which are at the private bank,» says one managing director and team leader at a Hong Kong-based American bank. «The private bankers wear the expensive-looking clothes, higher heels and diamond jewelry,» he says, citing the example of a lady we are both familiar with wears vintage Cartier diamonds to office most days.
«So I can only assume that these women put a lot of thought into how they look at office, perhaps there is pressure to conform to a certain look,» he adds. We then discuss the persistent rumors surrounding a banker accused of being in a relationship with her eighty-year-old Hong Kong tycoon client but neither of us is cynical enough to believe it is an example relevant to this article.
Night to Day Wear?
«I think at a more junior level there is an assumption that looking good will translate into some sort of credit in the workplace, but at the managing director level one is playing for very high stakes». stresses a managing director in her forties at a Swiss private bank. «Just looking the part is of no help, you have to bring your A-game to work every day.»
She admits to having seen young women, on occasion, show up work in the morning wearing «something they probably wore to the club the previous night,» but insists that such behavior is weeded out at senior levels.
Soul-Searching Needed
«I’m not sure that one can generalize and say women in private banking feel the pressure to look good at work – we could say the same of an actress or a model,» says a CEO at a private bank. «But I do agree that the financial services industry could benefit from some soul-searching in the wake of [the allegation of sexual assault by a senior] the incident and now this.»
I wholeheartedly agree. No industry is the worse for asking – and answering – the tough questions. And if we find ourselves lacking, there are many good women – CEOs, private bankers, assistants, interns – to lead us out of the mess.
