By Sammie Jones-
More than 40 new companies have signed up to the Women In Finance charter, which aims to promote gender diversity in Financial Services, the City Minister John Glen has announced today.
The new signatories come as the third Women in Finance annual review, published today, shows that the proportion of women in senior management has increased at Charter firms, with three out of four firms increasing or maintaining their proportion of women in top jobs in 2019.
The report also shows that the average female representation in senior management has increased from 30% in 2017 to 32% in 2019. One third of firms signed up to the Charter have already met their targets for women in senior leadership. The rest have set targets for this year and beyond, which the majority report they are on track to meet.
Gender diversity in senior positions has long been an issue calling for correction. Many industries have since addressed its problems of unequal gender pay, increasing wage packages and elevating the position of women in the labour market.
The UK government launched the HM Treasury Women in Finance Charter in
March 2016 to encourage the financial services industry to improve gender
balance in senior management. The Charter now has over 370 signatories
covering 900,000 employees across the sectors.
Firms have been reporting an increasingly rigorous approach to their own diversity data, in what is seen to be encouraging update.
This third annual review monitors the progress of signatories against their
Charter commitments and holds them to account against the four Charter
principles . This year’s analysis is bigger and deeper as the number of
signatories has grown – here we include data from 187 signatories, of which 90 are reporting for the first time, 43 for the second and 54 for the third time.
Dame Jayne-Anne Gadhia, Government Women in Finance Champion said:
The third review of the effectiveness of Women in Finance Charter provides an
important indicator of where British business stands, and steps still to be taken, on the journey to achieving real equality.
It’s no secret that the most diverse companies are typically the most productive, the most attractive places to work and successful at retaining their people – treating employees. Where companies have not stepped up or have fallen behind on their gender balance targets, the risk to shareholder as well as stakeholder return is clear. 
Government Women’s Champion Dame Jane Amie Gadia
City Minister, John Glen, said:
”I am determined to see financial services firms improve their gender diversity. Today’s figures show that progress is being made, but that there is still a great deal more to do. With the scale of challenges and opportunities facing financial services, we cannot afford to miss out on the best talent and leadership.
Firms’ response to Coronavirus has demonstrated that flexible working is not only possible but also a positive change which benefits everyone. As we plan our recovery, I encourage firms to think about how we build on the lessons learned to accelerate progress.
42 new companies have signed the charter, which commits firms to supporting the progression of women into senior roles in the financial services sector. This brings the total number of signatories to over 370.
This comes at the same time as a doubling of signatories to the Investing in Women Code, a Treasury-sponsored programme to improve access to finance for women, and to provide support to female entrepreneurs. 66 firms are now committed to increasing the transparency around the funding provided to entrepreneurs and founders, and supporting innovative women”.