Having women in leading political offices is increasingly becoming the norm. This is demonstrated by both German chancellor Angela Merkel, in office for almost 15 years, and Simonetta Sommaruga – after 2015, this year she is holding the position of President of the Swiss Confederation for the second time already. In culture, too, the female sex is strongly represented. Statista indicates that US pop icon Taylor Swift leads the ranking of highest-earning musicians and bands in 2018/19. In business as well, the influence of women is growing slowly but surely. In Switzerland more than 100 companies have joined the Advance association, documenting their desire to promote gender equality and have more women on their management boards. According to Advance, gender diversity has been proven to lead to better decisions, reflects the market more appropriately and is a driver of innovation.
The SPB Women Impact Europe Index transfers the trend towards more "womanpower" into financial investments. The selection universe for this benchmark is the STOXX® Europe 600 Index. The most liquid and least volatile members are first filtered out of the diversified barometer for the equity market of the "old continent". In the next step, the remaining stocks are analysed using the equality scoring system developed by Leonteq. One of the central criteria is the proportion of women in management positions. Companies with a relatively high percentage receive correspondingly more points. All criteria are weighted equally heavily and are ultimately added together to form a total score. The SPB Women Impact Europe Index includes the 30 companies with the highest scores. To reflect the dynamic development of the gender debate, a review is carried out every three months and the selection adjusted where necessary.
Companies from Scandinavia are leaving their stamp on the SPB Women Impact Europe Index – together they contribute a good quarter to the weighting. This shows that women in the far north are particularly strongly represented at board level. Figures from MSCI back up this hypothesis: each of the total of ten Norwegian companies contained in the MSCI® ACWI Index, for instance, has three or more women in its top management. The MSCI analysis indicates that companies in Great Britain also have a high proportion of women in executive positions, which is why it is represented with six stocks in the SPB Women Impact Europe Index. These include GlaxoSmithKline, Emma Walmsley having been at the helm of the pharmaceuticals group since April 2017. Four other women sit alongside her in the 16-strong Corporate Executive Team. The 30 index members in total are not just characterised by a higher proportion of women, though: they also take the ever more important sustainability principles seriously. At least 95% of the companies included in it have been ESG-compliant in the past or are today.
The relatively high presence of women doesn't just pay off in societal terms – it is also good for business. According to the WEF, closing the gender gap can lead to an increase in earnings of more than 20%. The companies concerned could also make an impact on the stock market. Over a period of ten years the SPB Women Impact Europe Index has generated a higher return than its benchmark, the broad-based STOXX® Europe 600 (see chart). It has been possible to invest in the innovative barometer via a tracker certificate from Leonteq since the end of 2019. The participation product tracks the SPB Women Impact Europe Net Total Return Index without any term limits. Holders of the derivative also reap the benefit of all dividend payments, with distributions being reinvested net in the underlying stock. An investment in the forward-looking and regularly reviewed Women Impact selection incurs a management fee of 0.75% p.a.
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