Introduction
1.The Treasury Committee launched its Women in Finance inquiry on 19 October 2017 to:
- Examine the value to financial firms of having greater gender balance across all job grades and functions;
- Identify the barriers to women entering and progressing their careers in the financial services industry and whether they are more prevalent in particular financial sectors and / or functions within financial firms;
- Review the impact of the Treasury’s Women in Finance Charter; and
- Examine the role of the Government and financial regulators in:
- Acting as role models for good gender diversity practices;
- Marketing the financial industry to a more diverse base of potential recruits; and
- Ensuring firm cultures, policies and practices support women’s aspirations and progress.
2.The Committee held the following oral evidence sessions:
24 October 2017: Women in Finance Champion
3.Jayne-Anne Gadhia, Chief Executive Officer, Virgin Money. In 2015, Jayne-Anne Gadhia was asked by the then Economic Secretary to the Treasury, Harriett Baldwin, to lead a review into the representation of women in senior management in the financial services industry. Following the review, the Treasury launched the Women in Finance Charter, with Jayne-Anne Gadhia as the Charter’s champion.
9 January 2018: Recruitment practices
4.Kate Grussing, Founder and Managing Director, Sapphire Partners; Michael Henning, Head of Investment, Mason Blake; and Jon Terry, Partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers.
27 February 2018: Women’s representation and progression in finance
5.Anne Richards, Chief Executive Officer, M&G Investments; Amanda Blanc, Group Chief Executive Officer, AXA UK; and Susan Allen, Head of Retail Distribution, Santander UK.
28 March 2018: HM Treasury and Minister for Women
6.John Glen MP, Economic Secretary to the Treasury; and Victoria Atkins MP, Minister for Women.
7.Throughout the inquiry, the Committee received 28 written submissions.
8.On 21 February, the Committee held an engagement event where Members and staff met with 42 women from across the financial services industry. They represented approximately 20 financial firms and included women of various levels of seniority, as well as representing a mix of back and front office parts of their business.
9.The Committee ran a discussion forum on Mumsnet to obtain further views on women’s representation and progression in finance.
10.This report sets out the Committee’s conclusions on the current levels of diversity in the financial services sector, the benefits of gender diversity, the barriers to gender diversity, the financial services industry’s initiatives to improve gender diversity, the Government’s initiatives and the representation of other forms of diversity in finance.
Published: 13 June 2018