The Pensions Management Institute, a trade body representing the sector, has brought in the UK insurer Aviva for help with boosting diversity on the boards of retirement funds — one of the most overwhelmingly male and elderly parts of the financial industry.

Pension trustees oversee billions of pounds worth of investments in the UK, and wooing them is key to the business models of many asset managers and investment consultants. But with many schemes having closed their doors to new joiners in the past few decades, trustees are drawn from an overwhelmingly male, white, and elderly pool of volunteers.