Virgin Money CEO Jayne-Anne Gadhia (pictured) is driving the Women In Finance Charter and has been appointed a government champion to drive further change, employing over 20,000 people including Jupiter Asset Management, Allied Irish Bank and the Financial Ombudsman Service.
The government would like to see more FinTech firms, payments companies and investment banks sign up to the Charter and Gadhia will play a key role in making this happen.
Jayne-Anne Gadhia, CEO of Virgin Money and Women in Finance Champion, said: “I am delighted to be appointed the government’s Women in Finance Champion. We need to continue to manage the flow of female talent to leadership positions in financial services so that it properly reflects the diversity of our society.”
Financial services is the country’s highest paid sector but enshrines the widest gender pay gap, at almost 40% compared with 19.2% across the economy, converting to 60p in every pound earned by a man in the sector.
Originally launched by the Treasury, Charter signatories agree to four key recommendations:
- Linking the remuneration packages of their executive teams to gender diversity target
- Setting internal targets for gender diversity in their senior management
- Publishing progress reports annually against these targets
- Having one member of the senior team responsible for driving change onwards.
Some 60 signatories committed to having at least 30% of women in senior roles by 2021, including 15 banks and 13 leading insurers who together employ over 375,000 people in the UK. Meanwhile, 13 firms, including Virgin Money, the Financial Conduct Authority and Legal and General, are aiming for complete gender parity in senior roles at a 50/50 split.
New Financial, a think tank working with HMT, will monitor the progress of Charter signatories and publish a thematic analysis and publish the first annual Charter Review in December 2017. The new signatories will publish their gender strategies by the end of the year.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond, said: “It is great news that almost 100 firms have signed the Women in Finance Charter and are now dedicating themselves to tackling gender inequality.
But there is still further to go. The UK leads the world in financial services, but it can be even better. I want to see a diverse sector run by talented women as well as men, to help secure Britain’s place as a globally competitive economy. The business case is obvious, and the best firms already get this.”
A Mortgage Solutions poll result showed over 70% of our readers said they would sign the charter to boost gender diversity in the mortgage and property industries. Mortgage distributor Brightstar is the only master broker to sign up to the scheme so far.
List of Charter Signatories
Aberdeen Asset Management
Affinity Capital
AIB UK
Aldermore Group
Association of British Insurers (ABI)
Atom Bank
Aviva
Bacs Payment Schemes Limited
Barclays Bank
BlackRock
BNY Mellon
BP Integrated Supply and Trading
Brightstar Financial
British Bankers’ Association
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce
Capital Credit Union
Chartered Insurance Institute
Cicero Group
Circle
Collinson Group
Columbia Threadneedle Investments
Covea Insurance
Credit Suisse
Deutsche Bank AG
Direct Line Group
E2W Limited
East London Credit Union
East Sussex Credit Union
Ecclesiastical Insurance
EY
Fidelity International UK
Financial Conduct Authority
Financial Ombudsman Service
GAAPweb
Handelsbanken
Hannay Investments
Henderson Global Investors
Hermes Investment Management
HM Treasury
HSBC UK
ionStar
Isban UK
Jupiter Asset Management
Landbay
Leeds Building Society
Legal & General
Lloyds Banking Group
Lloyd’s of London
London Capital Credit Union
London Stock Exchange Group
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Manchester Credit Union
Market Harborough Building Society
MasterCard (UK&I Division)
MetLife UK
Mizuho Bank Ltd.
Mizuho International plc.
Morgan Stanley International
National House Building Council
National Skills Academy for Financial Services
Nationwide Building Society
NEST Corporation
Nottingham Building Society
PageGroup
Paragon Group of Companies
Payments UK
Phoenix Group
Pioneer Mutual Credit Union
Principality Building Society
Progressive Building Society
Prudential
PwC UK
Ridgeway Partners
Santander UK
Schroders
Sestini & Co
Shawbrook Bank
Simply Business
South Manchester Credit Union
Standard Chartered PLC
Standard Life
State Street
Sturgeon Ventures LLP
The Co-operative Bank
The Mortgage & Insurance Bureau
The Royal Bank of Scotland
The Royal London Mutual Insurance Society
Thomson Reuters
TSB Bank
Unum
Virgin Money
West Bromwich Building Society
Zurich Insurance
Jayne-Anne Gadhia’s report ‘Empowering Productivity: Harnessing the Talents of Women in Financial Services’ can be found here.
