Women in Financial Services
Inspiring Women - Manuela Froehlich
Mark.Freed / 29 Mar 2019
My career story is one of those whereby I have literally risen through the ranks. After my parents persuaded me that working in a bank would be a good place to start my career (I had wanted to be a movie make-up artist – completely different!) I began working in 1989 in a private bank branch in my small home town in Germany, where I’m from. One of my earliest roles was behind the desk, a bank teller serving customers and from that point I have gone on to enjoy a long, successful international career.
This first role was an excellent training ground for me as I learnt about a wide range of products including mortgages, corporate loans, investment opportunities, funds and equities. I realised that, actually, I enjoyed working in finance and I was good at it. So my first promotion to become a branch manager was at 25, the youngest of the fifteen city branches at that time.
There wasn’t a ‘corporate message’ that we had to stick to at the bank and we were encouraged to be entrepreneurial and creative in our approach to winning more clients. This is when I realised that I’m extremely client service orientated (a constant throughout my working life as it turns out). I really enjoyed dealing with clients and above all else, saw myself as a service provider. I’m a great believer in the idea that if you deliver great service, the sales and business development opportunities will follow.
A big merger and a proposed role I wasn’t very keen on, forced me to think about another potential at that very bank and introduced me to an interesting product management role at the headquarters. This gave me the opportunity to move to London only two years later in 2001 to pursue a career in one of the greatest cities in the world. There my career really started to take off and what was meant to be a 2 -3 years change, ended in 10 very good years at one of the oldest asset managers in the world.
I started there in the wholesale business, my client base being institutional investors all over the world. I loved the international travel, managing multi-cultural teams and meeting diverse global clients. I had to adapt my client service skills depending on the local culture and customs and relished that challenge. The combination of service, along with the improvement of sales skills was a successful formula for winning new business and ensure investors’ / clients’ retention. And my responsibilities increased on a regular basis.
At the end of 2010, after another merger, a change of role and the financial crash of 2008, I decided to take a break. I had much better things to do! I travelled and pursued my ‘hobby’ of managing bands (which I’d started in 2005). I really enjoyed it, got to live in Los Angeles for three months and although it was work, I didn’t see it as such. If you love what you do, then it’s not a job.
In 2011, thanks to my network, I was approached by a Luxembourg management company to return to asset management. The various roles I executed there for a total of nearly six years saw me move from London to Germany and then to Luxembourg as I continued in positions that combined my existing knowledge and experience with my client services skills.
I nearly didn’t accept the job I was offered in Luxembourg: this could have been one of those situations that you read about where I didn’t think I was able to tick all those required boxes. Women tend to want to be able to do everything on a job spec before they apply; but in the end I decided to take that risk as they were keen for me to relocate and boost the client services offering there.
I may not have had experience content wise, but my client relationship management skills came to the fore. I networked, I was responsive, I listened, I asked questions, I found solutions and slowly but surely, clients started to regain their trust in us and were satisfied that we not only met their expectations, but actually exceeded them.
At the end of 2016 I felt the time was right for a change. I guess this comes with age, when you know exactly what you’re worth, what you can deliver and therefore expect from an employer. And if the expectations don’t match, it is time to go.
Again the power of the network moved me into my current role, another management company in Luxembourg, who were specifically interested in my international expertise of global fund distribution and my huge network of all sorts of industry participants, like consultants, placement agents, asset managers, multipliers, media, etc. along the line.
In this case, I knew I had the right experience after years of managing international teams and dealing with international clients. I was very excited about this unique opportunity and am now looking forward to growing even more internationally, as we are part of a much larger global organisation.
I’ve had a rich career to date which I really appreciate but something else that I’m proud of is the women’s network for the asset management business that I co-founded.
In 2015, regulations were introduced in Germany whereby 30% of listed companies’ boards had to be female; unlisted companies had to have similar targets. My co-founders and I realised that women needed help to reach the senior roles within asset management and to help companies reach their targets. I’m a confident woman and I’ve been very lucky not to experience much discrimination because of my gender; I have built a strong network which I’ve called on throughout my career but I realised that there were some women who haven’t had it so ‘easy’.
Fonds Frauen was created in Germany and membership is growing. The group aims to help women find mentors and introduce them to role models in the industry, as well as encouraging women into asset management as a career path.
I’m very proud of my career journey and love the diversity of people that I’ve met along the way. I’m glad that I am in a position now to give back to my female peers and to help them succeed in asset management too.
Read other stories in the Inspiring Women Series
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