Women in Financial Services
Latest FCA research: Opportunities still limited for female senior managers
Mark.Freed / 27 Nov 2019
Latest FCA research: Little change at the top
Recently published research by the FCA paints a sorry picture for women at senior levels in the financial services industry.
If you wanted to be generous (though why would you?), there would be a temptation to highlight the rapid growth in the typical share of female senior managers – but as it’s from a very low level, it still doesn’t mean very much.
On a more positive note, there are some firms taking this issue seriously, as they have over 40% of senior manager roles filled by women. But others are still below 5%, which is hard to believe is possible these days. As a result, the overall average for FCA-approved individuals (which covers senior managers and customer-dealing functions) is just 17%. This has barely changed since 2005; despite all the positive words about gender diversity in recent years.
There is also a small difference between larger and smaller firms (23% to 17%) and greater diversity in senior management than customer-dealing roles. It was also noted that systematically important banks saw the greatest rise in share, though investment managers and fund operators are still top overall. Brokerages were last by a long way – and showed the lowest rise in share as well.
Given that our mission at E2W is to help women reach the heights in financial services that their talents deserve, this is dispiriting news. But for companies who mean what they say about wanting a better gender balance it should be a wake-up call. Talk to us, or another specialist, and see what you can do now to put your business ahead.
If you’d like to read the full FCA research note, click here.
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