Major financial businesses have committed to big improvements in the fair representation of women in the upper levels of management.
Of a total of 72 firms who signed a charter the government drew up earlier this year for women in finance, 60 per cent have now committed to having at least 30 per cent of women in senior roles by 2021.
This includes 15 banks and 13 insurers, who together employ over 375,000 people in the UK.
The Women in Finance Charter, which is a voluntary initiative aimed at giving financial services businesses – those which meet the FCA’s definition of a financial services firm - flexibility to improve the position of women in their organisations, was devised in April by HM Treasury.
It commits signatories to four actions, which include linking the remuneration packages of their executive teams to gender diversity targets, setting internal targets for gender diversity in their senior management and appointing a senior executive responsible for gender diversity and inclusion.
According to government statistics published today (11 October), thirteen organisations, including the Financial Conduct Authority and Legal & General are aiming for complete gender parity in senior roles, a 50/50 split.
Firms also agreed to make an individual executive responsible for its commitments and as a result, 20 firms have named their chief executive as the senior executive accountable for progress against their targets.
Those firms who have published their strategies employ over half a million people and include all kinds of financial services work.
New Financial, a think tank working with HM Treasury to monitor the progress of charter signatories, will be publishing a thematic analysis of the submissions from the first group of firms at the end of October 2016.
Prime minister Theresa May said: "The UK is a world-leader in financial services, but the sector could do even better if it made the most of many talented women who work in finance. Too few women get to the top and many don’t progress as quickly as they should or they leave the sector completely.
"So it is good news that so many firms have signed the Women in Finance Charter and are now dedicating themselves to tackling gender inequality. They recognise the business case for doing so and with ambitious targets to deepen the female talent pool, these firms are leading the way.
"I want to see a diverse sector run by talented men and women and I look forward to seeing many more businesses promoting women and helping to make the UK the best place in the world to do business."
Ms May added alongside gender diversity targets, firms have set out strategies for how they’ll hit these targets, including improving flexible working, making recruitment gender neutral and distributing high profile work more fairly.
