IBS Journal April 2016
UK banks back initiative tackling lack of women in top jobs
A British government-sponsored review has urged financial services companies to sign up to a set of voluntary proposals to improve gender diversity in senior positions. Virgin Money Chief Executive Jayne-Anne Gadhia led the review and a report published during March outlines a series of recommendations included in a voluntary Charter for which Virgin Money and rival banks Lloyds Banking Group, Bar- clays, HSBC and the Royal Bank of Scotland will sign up. Columbia Threadneedle is the first asset management firm to commit to the initiative, while Capital Credit Union will be leading the charge for mutuals. The Treasury will publish a list of the firms onboard after three months. Whilst more women than men start out in financial services, as they progress the majority fall out, especially at middle management level. This leaves almost all of the top jobs in the hands of men. The report recommends that financial service firms connect parts of the remuneration packages of their executive teams to gender balance targets. Firms should also set internal targets for gender diversity in their senior management, publish progress reports annually against these targets, and
appoint an executive solely responsible for gender, diversity, and inclusion. “In the end, we did not find a magic
bullet. All organisations are different and have differing priorities. All individuals necessarily have different requirements and views,” Gadhia notes in the report. She adds: “We had an open, transpar-
ent and democratic debate, and involved as many firms and individuals as possible to hear all the relevant voices and win broad and widespread support. Our research showed that in 2015, women made up only 14% of executive committees in the financial services sector. Too few women get to the top and this is not just about childcare. Women are leaving because the culture isn’t right. It’s very encouraging that a number of major financial services com- panies have already agreed to implement our recommendations. As a result, the issue will now be addressed in a way the City recognises. Make it public, measure it and report on it. What gets published gets done. The social and economic benefits are clear and I look forward to more financial services companies signing up to the Charter in due course.” British Bankers’ Association Chief
Executive Anthony Browne, meanwhile, comments: “The banking industry has made important progress in improving female representation at all levels in recent years. As the BBA’s recent Diversity and Inclusion report shows, banks are at the front of the pack in the FTSE 100 with on average 31 per cent of boards made up of women. But more needs to be done to ensure more talented women reach the top of the corporate ladder, especially when it comes to senior executive positions. The days of the old boys club in banking are numbered.”
Scott Thompson
Santander taps tech heavyweights for digital advice
Ana Botin, Group Executive Chairman of Banco Santander, has announced the creation of an international advisory board to back up the Spanish FI’s digital transfor- mation plans. Speaking at the bank’s annual general
meeting, Botin said: “What the members of this board share is the experience of man- aging the digital transformation of an or- ganisation or having been in top positions. Their experience will be an invaluable resource for our company as we prepare for the future. The true power of technol- ogy to transform lives emerges when it is
adopted and distributed by companies like ours. The way we internalise and adapt to new technology in the coming years will determine our success.” Chaired by Lawrence Summers,
the former US treasury secretary, the seven-member advisory board features such tech heavyweights as Charles Phillips, the former president of Oracle Corp. who is now CEO of Infor, Francisco D’Souza, CEO of Cognizant Technology Solutions, and Jim Whitehurst, CEO of Red Hat. Botin also noted at the AGM: “Our business is about satisfying the needs and aspira-
tions of our 121 million customers. We are investing heavily in digital products and services and have made great strides in this area in 2015. We grew our number of loyal customers 1.2 million and our digitally active customers by 2.5 million. In five of the markets we serve, we rank among the top three banks for customer satisfaction.” Scott Thompson
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© IBS Intelligence 2016
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