The Personal Finance Society says 3 in 10 of the 468 graduates due to take part this week in its now cancelled graduation ceremony are female - nearly twice the financial services average.

The professional body with 40,000 members was forced to cancel the graduation event in London due to the Coronavirus outbreak.

The event, for Chartered Financial Planners and other graduates, has been rescheduled to October.

The PFS says analysis of the graduates due to take part underlines evolving change in the Financial Planning profession.

The FCA’s Gender Diversity in UK Financial Services report published in November 2019 found women only make up around 17 % of individuals working in the profession.

In contrast, of the 468 people due to graduate at the Personal Finance Society graduation ceremony this week three out of 10 (135) were women, most set on careers as Financial Planners or Paraplanners.

Keith Richards, chief executive of the Personal Finance Society, said: “The make-up of our current graduates is a pleasing sign that a growing number of women are pursuing a career in the personal finance profession as well as a noticeable change in young people choosing the sector as a first career of choice.

“It is naturally disappointing to have to cancel the graduation ceremony and while we must currently ‘stay at home’ and follow the government’s instruction, it is important to recognise and celebrate the hard work and achievement of these 468 practitioners.

“I look forward to presenting the April graduating class with their certificates at a ceremony later in the year when we will be able to meet face-to-face once again.”

The Chartered Insurance Institute, the parent body of the PFS, is offering free digital study texts and revision aid updates to personal finance students worried they may be unable to sit their assessment before the end of August.