The Charter was launched by HM Treasury following recommendations made by Jayne-Anne Gadhia, Virgin Money’s CEO, (pictured) who led a review into the representation of women in senior leadership roles in the finance industry.
A raft of mortgage lenders (see below) are among the firms to agree a raft of initiatives to boost the number of women in senior roles from 35% to 40% by the end of 2017.
All signatories have agreed to diversify the recruitment pool by working closely with recruitment firms to get one woman on every job shortlist and to mentor and sponsor junior talent.
Nigel Wilson, Group CEO, Legal & General said: “50/50 by 2020 is our ambitious aspiration that drives our progress towards truly diverse leadership teams across our business. We will continue to use our influence both internally and externally and we are delighted to demonstrate our commitment to the Women in Finance Charter as part of this.”
The charter is a set of voluntary proposals following the report led by Gadhia which found that women made up 23% of boards at City firms but only 14% of executive committees.
The Davies review of women on boards has increased the number of female directors at UK companies, but most of the rise has been in the number of non-executives rather than in top management jobs.
*Other signatories include: Aldermore, HSBC, LV=, Market Harborough BS, Nationwide BS, The Nottingham, Principality BS, Progressive BS, Santander, Co-Operative Bank, RBS, TSB Bank, Virgin Money, and West Bromwich BS.
