The theme of this year’s campaign is Accelerate Action, meaning as well as celebrating the achievements of women and advocating for progress with issues that affect women, there is also a focus on how to speed up the rate of change and work towards a more inclusive, equal society.
Here, we speak to Nicola Tunney, chief people and operating officer for Afin Bank.
Who are you and where do you work?
I’m Nicola Tunney, chief people and operating officer for Afin Bank.
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How long have you been working in the sector?
I’ve been working in financial services forever. I started off in London Life, for those who remember that far back.
Have you always worked in financial services?
Yes, I fell into financial services after a couple of years in Tenerife as a teenager. I could type, and that was it; I was in.
When did you realise financial services would be a career for you?
After about six months of just ‘having a job’, I realised I enjoyed the challenge of working in financial services. It was thought-provoking, technical and was never the same on different days.
I was lucky enough to have great colleagues and development support, so I studied for my Financial Planning Certificate (FPC) and Advanced Financial Planning Certificate (AFPC), and I felt that I had an opportunity to learn and progress.
Being in financial services gave me the opportunity for a career, and that appealed massively.
Do you feel like you worked harder than your male counterparts to get where you are?
Anyone who has had a long-standing career in financial services and has moved up through the ranks has had to work hard; I wouldn’t take that away from anyone.
I do think that women have faced a layering-up of activity, which is what creates the challenge, as life is not just about the day job.
The ‘hard work’ for me was managing a role I loved while also looking after my family and home. This was particularly hard with babies and young children. It was all about balancing everything so that I did the best I could for everyone, while trying not to feel too guilty.
It still makes me cross to this day – I know, I should get over it – that my husband was never late for work and never had to leave early or stay at home with sick children, despite me being the main wage earner by some long way.
Regardless of your role in the work environment, you’re still mum. I think this absolute focus on ‘mum’ doing everything is changing and there is a far more balanced approach to home and family life, but I would suspect there is still more to do here.
In what ways do you try to support women already in the sector or those wanting to join?
It is wonderful to see the industry taking a positive approach to equality and diversity as a whole. Diversity is a bit of a hot topic at the minute, with plenty of political rhetoric flying around, but it is something that I personally believe very strongly in, and it’s something that we work hard to promote across Afin Bank.
Having a diverse team is something I support personally in my own team recruitment, and our HR policies and best practice are focused on ensuring that we build and sustain a diverse, inclusive team.
We have a Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEI&B) working group with clear and transparent goals about where we want to be, and we keep this focus and drive alive through activities such as Lunch ‘n’ Learns, training and our internal comms.
We’ve recently launched our mentoring programme at Afin Bank, which our female chair is very supportive of, and we will be working hard to ensure that everyone has the chance for the development and opportunities they deserve.
We need to see more women in financial services, particularly in senior management and C-suite roles, and I’ll keep banging the drum for this.
The theme of IWD this year is ‘Accelerate Action’, highlighting that there is still a long way to go until we reach genuine gender parity. Do you feel like the financial services sector is progressing at a satisfactory pace?
Financial services is doing well in achieving balance, but there is still a way to go, and we need to look more closely at the stats to ensure that the high-level numbers aren’t hiding issues when you get into the detail.
What more can be done?
To my earlier point, the percentage of women in financial services drops off as you go up the role hierarchy and this is something that we need to keep focus on.
A greater understanding of the barriers to upward progression is key for us to keep knocking down the barriers, which can sometimes be internal, and allow women to grow to their full potential.
When it comes to gender equality, where do you think financial services has done well?
It’s not perfect, but as someone who has worked in financial services for nearly 40 years, I’ve experienced a seismic change in gender equality within the industry.
I remember going to my first big corporate event not long after I started working. There were around 500 people there, I suppose, and only three of those were women. The rest were men, and they weren’t a mixed bag of men either; they were all suited and booted in nearly identical outfits, were all white and middle-aged, or were trying to look middle-aged to blend in.
The only real character coming through was the odd individual with a coloured tie or maybe some interesting socks. It’s a different world now.
