UK banks sign up for Women in Finance Charter

Several UK banks have committed to signing up for a charter to promote gender balance in the workplace.

Major companies such as Virgin Money, Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group and the Royal Bank of Scotland are showing their support after the government urged companies to sign up for the charter, which aims to get more women working in senior roles in the finance sector.

Economic productivity

The government has now sponsored a review, led by Virgin Money Chief Executive Jayne-Anne Gadhia, to help boost its economic productivity.

Gadhia provided several proposals in the report for improving gender balance, including setting internal targets for gender diversity, appointing an executive who is responsible for gender, diversity and inclusion, and publishing gender statistics publicly.

Gadhia made no recommendations about formal targets or quotas for including female employees, and stated that all companies and people associated with them have different views, priorities and requirements.

Committed

Economic Secretary to the Treasury Harriett Baldwin said that it is “fantastic” that a leading number of UK banks have already committed to sign up for the new Women in Finance Charter and that she encourages all companies across the sector to follow suit.

The UK Treasury will be publishing a full list after three months of all companies that sign up to the new Women in Finance Charter.

Recent reports have highlighted the issue of gender inequality. A report from the Equality and Human Rights Commission showed that women working in finance roles earn 55 per cent less a year on average than men working in the same sector.

However, the government-sponsored Davies Review showed that there are now more women in board positions in the FTSE 100 companies, with 26 per cent now making up these positions, up from 12.5 per cent in 2010.