Almost half of UK financial industry now committed to better gender representation

Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com, was among the new signatories announced by the UK Treasury on the charter's first anniversary. It is the first law firm to sign the charter, committing it to supporting the progression of women into senior roles and reporting on its progress against published targets.

"Signing this charter is an extension of the well-established programme that we have in place for gender diversity," said Jonathan Bond, director of HR and learning at Pinsent Masons. "Pinsent Masons launched 'Project Sky' in 2014, aimed at improving our gender balance at senior levels leading to better working practices for all our staff. Having already surpassed our target, we will now progress towards the longer term goal of 30% female representation."

Of the individuals recently promoted to partner by Pinsent Masons, 68% were women. This took the firm over its previous target of achieving 25% female representation among its partnership by 2018, a year ahead of schedule.

The Women in Finance Charter was launched by the government in 2016 in response to an independent review of gender representation in financial services by Virgin Money chief executive Jayne-Anne Gadhia, who is now the government's Women in Finance champion. Gadhia's review found that women made up around 23% of the boards of UK financial services companies, but only 14% of executive committees.

A total of 122 firms operating in financial services have now signed the charter, which commits them to four actions to improving gender diversity. These are setting internal targets for gender diversity in their senior management; publishing progress reports annually against these targets; appointing a senior executive responsible for gender diversity and inclusion; and linking their executives' remuneration packages to gender diversity targets.

Among the firms that have signed the charter, 77 have committed to having at least 30% of their senior roles filled by women by 2021; while 23 have committed to full gender parity in the same timeframe. New signatories will publish their targets in June.

The latest firms to sign the charter include Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Royal Bank of Canada, investment consultancy Mercer and the Investment Association, which is the trade body for the UK's asset management industry. Nine financial technology (fintech) firms including Nutmeg, RateSetter, Starling and Fintech Circle are also among the latest round of signatories.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe, the Treasury's commercial secretary, said that the Women in Finance Charter had made a "strong start" in its first year.

"The financial industry is famed for its ability to identify opportunities to improve productivity," she said.

"The Women in Finance Charter is one of those opportunities. It offers the chance to increase diversity of thought and for the financial services sector to better reflect the society it serves. This is why I encourage firms across the UK to step up and sign the charter," she said.