Asset managers' gender pay gap exposed by British transparency demand

* Average (mean) gender pay gap 30.3 pct at 42 firms

* Mean gender bonus gap 66.5 pct, data shows

* National median gender hourly pay gap 9.1 pct in 2017

By Simon Jessop and Ritvik Carvalho

LONDON, April 4 (Reuters) - Fund managers in Britain, whohold other firms to account over their corporate governance,have among the highest gender pay and bonus gaps themselves, newdata showed.

The average gap between pay for men and women at the 42investment companies which had released the figures to meet theBritish government's demand was 30.3 percent, while the meangender bonus gap was 66.5 percent, government and company datareleased over recent weeks shows. https://tmsnrt.rs/2Ej86M9

That compares with a national median gender hourly pay gapfor full-time employees of 9.1 percent in 2017, according toBritain's Office for National Statistics.

One of Britain's most high-profile female chief executives,M&G's Anne Richards, told a recent conference that fundmanagement was "one of the worst industries, there's no doubtabout it", with the gap worsening over the years.

Most companies which released a report explaining theirparticular data on pay, said the gender gap was the result offewer women holding more senior roles, while several said theyhad plans in place to close the gap.

Rachel Lord, head of Europe, Middle East and Africa for theworld's biggest asset manager, BlackRock, called thegovernment's gender pay gap drive "one of the most importantthings I've seen around equality in the last 30 years".

"I don't think any of us like where the numbers are... it'sa blunt instrument; the calculation is kind of odd, but itdoesn't matter, it shines a light on how we have to do more."

ADDITIONAL SCRUTINY

Corporate governance teams at major fund firms areincreasing their engagement with the boards of large companiesthey invest in about the way they treat staff - on behalf oftheir investors who include retail savers and pension schemes.

A recent example is the debate about zero-hours contracts atfirms such as Sports Direct, which drew the ire of thegovernment and fuelled a wide-ranging review of corporategovernance last year.

This has already led to some changes to the country'scorporate governance code, making it important for assetmanagers to be seen to be performing well on the same measures.

"There will be additional scrutiny, so it will be necessaryfor asset managers... to have a look at what they're doing andlead by example," said Joe Dabrowski, Head of Governance andInvestment at the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association.

(Additional reporting by Huw Jones, editing by Sinead Cruise)