Over 40 new firms commit to promoting gender diversity in financial services

The new signatories come as the third Women in Finance annual review, published today, shows that the proportion of women in senior management has increased at Charter firms, with three out of four firms increasing or maintaining their proportion of women in top jobs in 2019.

The report also shows that the average female representation in senior management has increased from 30% in 2017 to 32% in 2019. One third of firms signed up to the Charter have already met their targets for women in senior leadership. The rest have set targets for this year and beyond, which the majority report they are on track to meet.

City Minister, John Glen, said:

I am determined to see financial services firms improve their gender diversity. Today’s figures show that progress is being made, but that there is still a great deal more to do. With the scale of challenges and opportunities facing financial services, we cannot afford to miss out on the best talent and leadership.

Firms’ response to Coronavirus has demonstrated that flexible working is not only possible but also a positive change which benefits everyone. As we plan our recovery, I encourage firms to think about how we build on the lessons learned to accelerate progress.

42 new companies have signed the charter, which commits firms to supporting the progression of women into senior roles in the financial services sector. This brings the total number of signatories to over 370.

This comes at the same time as a doubling of signatories to the Investing in Women Code, a Treasury-sponsored programme to improve access to finance for women, and to provide support to female entrepreneurs. 66 firms are now committed to increasing the transparency around the funding provided to entrepreneurs and founders, and supporting innovative women.

Notes

• the full list of signatories is available here
• the third annual report, which is based on data collected in September 2019 is available here
• the Investing in Women Code is available here