First State Investments

2018-2019
GENDER PAYREPORTDiverseperspectives
are critical toour long term
success

We believe that a diverse workforce is key for the ongoingdevelopment and success of First State Investments.
Diversity of thought underpins our culture and values
as an organisation. We remain committed to attracting,retaining and developing individuals who bring a wide rangeof perspectives to encourage new and different ways ofthinking, challenge each other as well as the establishedstatus quo.
Gender diversity is an integral part of our businessstrategy and while we are pleased we are moving
in the right direction with a narrowing gender pay
gap, gender diversity remains a key priority.
We also believe other aspects of diversity – social
background, disability, age, religion, sexual
orientation, cognitive, and ethnicity for example- to be important in ensuring we have a broad
range of skills, experiences and perspectives
within our organisation. Achieving greater diversity
across different areas and levels of our business isarguably even more important if we are to remaintrue to our values of responsible investment andstewardship.
In April 2017, the UK Government introducedlegislation that requires UK organisations withmore than 250 employees to publish gender
pay analysis. This report discloses the gender pay
figures for the First State Investments businessbased in the UK, as this legislation is a specific UKrequirement. It also provides some additional datafor our UK employee base, aligned to informationthat we have previously provided on a global
basis in our annual Responsible Investment andStewardship Report.

2First State Investments I 2018-2019 Gender Pay Report

The asset management industry continues to facechallenges relating to the underrepresentation ofwomen, particularly at senior levels and in seniorinvestment management roles. We acknowledge
that it will take time to bring about sustainablechange within our business and we are committed
to making this a priority.
Our reported data has remained broadly stable
when compared to previous years. We are pleased
with the Year-on-Year percentage increase in
women in management and executive committee
roles as well as the increase in women in seniorprofessional and client facing roles. This progressunderscores our commitment to achieving
gender parity at all levels across the organisation.
Whilst there has been improvements in someareas over the last 12 months and we areencouraged by the incremental progress made,we acknowledge there remains considerable work
to be done across all areas of our business. We areconfident that we are taking the necessary action
alongside the commitments of our industry tobring about meaningful change.

The difference
between ‘equal pay’and ‘gender pay’
Equal pay refers to paying men andwomen the same for doing similar
work or work of equivalent value.
From an equal pay perspective, weare confident that gender is not a
factor in determining pay.
Gender pay measurementcompares the average pay bygender of all roles collectively,
regardless of level or type.

Our diversity and inclusion commitments
We are committed to achieving
meaningful change over time anda reduction in the gender pay gap.
Creating an inclusive environment,
where individuals feel that they canbe themselves and reach their fullpotential is essential for our business,both to achieve increased levels ofdiversity and ultimately
long-term success for our clients.

Recruitment and Onboarding

Flexible working

We require gender-balanced shortlists for allrecruitment. All interview panels must comprise atleast one female employee. New starters and hiring
managers joining our businesses are made awareof our Diversity and Inclusion commitment throughthe recruitment and on boarding process to ensurethat they understand our culture and are able toeffectively contribute to it.

The way in which we consider and approach flexible
working is an important factor in demonstrating
our commitment to diversity and creating aninclusive culture. People at First State Investments
are valued on the contribution they make to ourbusiness. From our own experience, a strong
flexible working culture can be an important factor
in retaining and attracting individuals into roles at
all levels. Flexible working options are on offer toall employees although the percentage take up at
this stage is weighted to female employees. Flexible
working is not seen as a barrier to recruitment
to senior positions or progression to senior roles.
We offer flexible working arrangements such as
part-time employment, regular working from homedays and flexible working hours. Ad hoc flexibility is
considered usual business practice.

Remuneration review process
An integral part of our annual remuneration
governance process includes reviewing decisions
both in relation to base and bonus pay through thelens of gender equity with approvals dependent on
demonstrated equitable outcomes.
​Support for parents
We recognise the important role parents play inour society and the particular needs they have instarting or growing their family. We endeavour
to support our employees and their parental
responsibilities by offering a parental leave
programme that is gender neutral.
A parental coaching programme is on offer forboth primary and secondary carers; this aims tosupport return to work, managing a career as aworking parent and the balance between work andhome life. To complement our internal initiatives,
we are corporate members of Cityparents, aninclusive network for City professionals in London
who are looking to balance career and homecaring responsibilities, achieving flexibility whilst
maintaining career development.

3First State Investments I 2018-2019 Gender Pay Report

together to improve the diversity and inclusion of theindustry. As part of the programme’s membership,
we have committed to improving our firm’scommunication, bias awareness, and outreachprogrammes.
As investors
We encourage the companies we invest in on
behalf of our clients to achieve greater gender
diversity, increase the quality of decision-making
and deliver sustainable and attractive long-term
investment returns. It is for all the same reasonsthat First State takes the current gender imbalance
seriously and continues to try to tackle it. We
actively seek companies that we believe will deliver
superior long-term performance for our clients andbelieve that greater diversity is an important factor
in companies’ corporate decision-making and longterm success.

Unconscious bias training

Board representation

We offer unconscious bias training for UK employees
and will continue to roll this out to staff. This training
can help to make people aware of the biases thatthey may hold without realising the unintended
impacts these may have on working relationships
and the career development of others. This not only
considers biases from a gender perspective, but also
addresses ethnicity, sexual orientation, age, disability,
cognitive, social background and other factors.

We are committed to a more balanced gender
representation on our internal boards andto increase the number of women who areappointed. In 2019, we increased the board
representation in the UK to 17%. This reinforces ourfocus on bringing a broader range of perspectives
and different ways of thinking to our organisation
at multiple levels. By becoming a board member,
female employees obtain additional senior level
experience, which supports our wider objectiveof increasing the number of women in seniorleadership positions.

Industry Collaboration
We are members of the CFA Experimental
Partners programme. This is an initiative acrossthe investment management sector, collaborating

Gender pay analysis for First State Investments
In the context of gender pay
measurement there continues tobe notable differences in the overall
average pay for men and women. We
know these differences stem from theoverall structure of our industry and ofour organisation:– We have fewer women in senior leadership
positions and in senior investment management
roles, both of which offer higher than average pay
packages. Our gender breakdown figures that
follow our pay analysis illustrate this point.
– We have more women in part-time roles, whichcauses the average for women’s bonus pay to
be lower than men’s average pay (the statistics
provided are based on actual bonus pay, rather
than full time equivalent bonus pay).
– Remuneration packages for those in senior
management and investment roles may also
include a proportion of longer-term or deferredpay. Therefore in any one year, statistics will
include pay that has been agreed and awarded
up to three years previously.

Reporting period to: 6 April 2018 to 5 April 2019.
4

First State Investments I 2018-2019 Gender Pay Report

Base remuneration and bonus pay
Mean
Difference in base pay between maleand female employees (based on hourly pay)

-6.5%

Difference in bonus pay between maleand female employees-2.8%Median

26.5%

-6.3%

84.0%

-5.4%

33.0% in 2018

25.5%

31.8% in 201886.8% in 2018

55.9%

61.3% in 2018

Percentage of male and female employees who received a bonus

84.9%-2.1% from 2018

86.6%

+0.6% from 2018

Quartile bands according to base pay
The table below shows the proportion of males and females in quartile bands according to base pay, with upper quartile representing
the highest paid and lower quartile being the lowest paid.
Upper Quartile

68.6%

31.4%
+2.3% change from 2018

Second Quartile

65.5%

34.5%
+2.7% change from 2018

Third Quartile

48.1%

51.9%
+1.9% change from 2018

Lower Quartile

41.9%

58.1%
-7.8% change from 2018

Gender diversity analysis by role
The statistics below provide further insights into the structure of our business and provide helpful contextagainst which to consider our gender pay analysis. From this, we can see a clear link between our gender
pay gap and the number of male and female employees working in different roles, and at different levels,in our organisation.

Our overall picture of gender diversity across First State Investments, UK

Management/Executive Committee

56%

44%

Senior professionals

66%

34%

Investment management professionals

75%

25%

Client facing professionals

58%

42%

New starters (total organisation)

53%

47%

New starters (investment management professionals)

69%

31%

All data is based on UK-based employees and covers the period 6 April 2018 to 5 April 2019.
5First State Investments I 2018-2019 Gender Pay Report

Total organisation

45%

55%

Other diversity and inclusion initiatives
In the UK, we have a number of initiatives in place to support our broader diversity and inclusion objectives.

GenderDisability

LGBT+

Social Mobility

In 2017, First State established and co-funded theFuture Asset conference, a one day conference forgirls in their fifth year of high school across Scotland,
designed to underline the fact that gender should
never be seen as a barrier to progressing in anycareer choice. Since the inaugural event in 2017,
the event – now led by Didasko, a Scottish financial
education charity – is hosted annually and in 2019,
Future Asset worked with 484 girls and 113 teachers
from 87 schools across Scotland to consider thebenefits of possible future careers.

We look to partner with organisations who canoffer support to people with disabilities and help tochallenge preconceptions about disability.
We are corporate sponsors of Surrey Cricket
Board’s Disability Cricket Programme, which aims
to increase participation in cricket for people withdisabilities; and ‘Back Up Trust’ which supports
people with spinal injuries. This year, throughour internal charity, First Foundation, we haveestablished a new partnership with JFK School inEast London. We work with Create Art to fund andrun a creative arts programme with the students
with severe learning disabilities.

First State is proud to be a corporate member ofInterInvest, an organisation made up of LGBT+
people and allies that work in the investment
industry, and drives LGBT+ equality and inclusion
across the investment industry in the UK.
Established in 2018, InterInvest provides a forum formembers to discuss LGBT+ issues, attract and retain
LGBT+ talent into the investment industry and share
best practice across the sector.

We held open days in both our Edinburgh officeand London offices to provide an insight into theasset management industry and the type of roles
that exist within our organisation. The days wereopen to students across the education sector, with aparticular objective to encourage attendance fromlocal authority schools, in line with our aspiration tobroaden the social and economic backgrounds ofpeople entering investment managementand demonstrate the inclusivity of our workingenvironment.

Ethnicity
As part of our commitment to achieving ethnic
diversity in our organisation, and following ouracquisition by Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corp
in 2019, we have introduced Japanese interculturaltraining for all employees globally. In the UK, wehave marked Black History Month and encouraged
employees to attend events exploring BAME voicesin the media and challenges, opportunities andlearnings of BAME in the workplace.

6First State Investments I 2018-2019 Gender Pay ReportCognitive
We are corporate partners with ‘Aspierations’ which
supports people with autism. As active partners
and advocates, we have hosted neurodiversity
awareness training workshops, presented atindustry forums and participated in career
workshops for students on the autism spectrum.
Our partnership with Aspierations aims to build
awareness of cognitive diversity, provide entrants
on the autism spectrum support with entering
the workforce and create a workplace which
is supportive of individuals with neurodiverse
backgrounds.

We are also members of Investment 2020, ascheme established to bring more diverse talent
into all aspects of investment management. As
corporate members since 2013, we have recruitedand trained a number of school leavers to support
their ongoing career planning and development
and in our open days, include a typical Q&A
panel to discuss a typical day at work, review aninvestment decision case study and client meeting
simulation. We also actively participate in a numberof cross-industry events including speaking atevents to encourage meaningful work experienceand supporting students with career advice,preparation and interviewing skills.

Summary
At First State, we remain true to our core values of responsible investment and stewardship.
Fostering and promoting a culture of diversity and inclusion is critical in delivering thiscommitment. Understanding and embracing difference in the workplace allows us to harness
our talent at all levels across the business and ultimately achieve the very best investment returns
for our clients.
We remain focused on, and committed to nurturing talent and achieving gender parity within
our organisation, specifically in senior roles, for and over the long-term. We look forward tosharing our progress in the future.
SignatoriesChris Turpin
Managing Director, EMEA

Lindall West
Chief Human Resources Officer

Issued by First State Investments (UK) Limited which
is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct
Authority (registration number 143359). Registeredoffice Finsbury Circus House, 15 Finsbury Circus,London, EC2M 7EB number 2294743.
Telephone calls may be recorded.

7First State Investments I 2018-2019 Gender Pay Report