Investment managers are increasingly focusing on what it means to cultivate a healthy organisational culture. They appreciate that a strong firm culture can minimize the potential for inappropriate risk taking or behaviour that results in harm to investors and markets. Strong culture is also likely to create an environment where poor behaviour is not tolerated and where mistakes or failings are acknowledged and addressed. Additionally, a positive culture can help employees feel a deeper sense of belonging, supporting better teamwork, productivity and innovation. In short, getting it right when it comes to firms’ culture is a commercial imperative.

While firms might be motivated to ensure they possess a strong internal culture, a key challenge is that there is no one way to demonstrate or set out to improve this – each firm has its own unique history, structure and commercial aims that underpin the way in which it operates and the nature of its culture. It can be difficult to know where to start.

To assist firms, AIMA has created this paper setting out some practical approaches to the issue of firm culture, drawing on conversations with member firms. There is no expectation that firms will follow all the approaches discussed - indeed, smaller firms will inevitably be more selective in the steps they take - but we hope that the paper illustrates what is possible.

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  Adam Jacobs-Dean

  Managing Director, Global Head of Markets, Governance and Innovation