Financial services must do more to hire and retain women

Speaking at the launch of a report into progress made by signatories to HM Treasury's Women in Finance Charter, the chief executive of corporate and commercial banking UK said: "This is no longer business as usual in our world.

"It's transformation as usual. And so therefore, we've got to achieve our cultural and business ambitions, it's got to be something that we grasp."

He emphasised that diversity and inclusion can no longer be seen as a separate project, but must be integrated into the normal way of doing business, even during times of transformation and change within organisations. 

1 percentage point movement every year is not good enough.Amanda Blanc, Aviva CEO

Hinton was speaking on a panel that also included Katherine Johnson from LSEG and Cheryl Toner from Aviva. 

The panellists discussed best practice ideas that can help companies large and small achieve gender parity targets.

This is an important issue, given across financial services, there is still a gap of 4,000 women before targets are met.

According to the findings of the 54-page report from think tank New Financial, monitoring progress of 200+ signatories to HM Treasury Women in Finance Charter, the headline figure of female representation is 35 per cent.

While this is much higher than back in 2015 when HM Treasury's charter was launched, it is nowhere near 50 per cent.

Moreover, only 1 per cent of women in senior roles in financial services are from lower socio-economic or ethnic minority backgrounds.

Key takeaways

Nine key takeaways from the panel in terms of how to help build a more diverse and supportive working environment were:

• Extending diversity goals down the organisation to more junior levels and sharing progress
• Developing development programs and ensuring a 50/50 gender mix for aspiring and experienced leaders
• Launching a global parental leave policy to build trust with employees 
• Analysing differences between firms that are progressing faster than average to identify accelerators that can be applied
• Ensuring diversity and inclusion is embedded deeply in the organisational culture and DNA, not just seen as a separate project
• Having strong leadership and accountability for diversity goals from the executive team, with metrics linked to remuneration
• Constantly evaluating initiatives and data to understand what is and isn't working, and tweaking approaches on an ongoing basis
• Learning from other firms that have accelerated faster than average, such as focusing on the 'architecture' and leadership glue that drives continuous progress
• Building trust with employees through demonstrated actions and initiatives over time, like parental leave policies.

Also speaking at the report's launch was Dame Amanda Blanc, chief executive of Aviva. 

She expressed disappointment that gender parity in senior leadership roles was just improving by only one percentage point at a time, highlighting that this mattered to businesses and consumers.

Referring to the report, which showed that gender parity between men and women would only happen in 2038, Blanc said: "I'm never one to want to stand still.

"And it does feel like a 1 percentage point movement every year is not good enough.

"That's not in any way said to undermine all the work that I know firms are doing to meet their targets but I do genuinely feel that that progress is too slow.

"If we think about our customer bases, and then if we think about our business priorities, does our diversity reflect that our customer base?"

A place where everyone belongs

Blanc also challenged the financial services industry to do more.

"Across our industry, I don't think it does, and I know I'm like a broken record, I keep saying the same thing.

"But the rate of progress isn't good enough, and we're not going to get a good representation of thought across the business."

Blanc told the audience it was an "excuse" to say a company could not focus on diversity because there were so many other things going on.

Financial services in the City of London must be a place where everyone belongs.Chris Hawyard, City of London Corporation

In words echoed by Hinton later on in the panel session, Blanc added: "Diversity isn't just a project that you start and finish; it is part of what your business is, and either you believe in it or you don't."

Fellow keynote speaker Chris Hayward, policy chairman at City of London Corporation, has long been a dedicated supporter of HM Treasury's Women in Finance charter.

He said: "Financial services in the City of London must be a place where everyone belongs. That is particularly true in leadership.

"We need a culture that welcomes everyone. If we want to continue to be successful, we need the best people - and that can only be achieved by welcoming all diversity of leadership.

"Female leadership is crucial to providing role models for the next generation, helping to build an equitable inclusive talent pipeline."