Women in finance: our 2024 report

As one of 400 signatories of the Women in Finance Charter, we are dedicated to improving gender representation within the financial services industry, particularly in leadership roles. Our commitment is clear — to achieve at least 30% female representation in our senior leadership by the end of 2025. Senior leadership at our company is defined as all employees with a seniority level of Lead and above. Currently, our representation in these roles stands at 21%.

Our progress

We're committed to making data-driven decisions to advance Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) across our organisation. Embedding DEI data into our core business processes—such as recruitment, promotion, development, employee engagement, and satisfaction—has been a critical first step. By continuously monitoring these metrics, we can track progress, identify areas for improvement, and implement targeted initiatives to mitigate bias and foster a more inclusive environment.

Internal growth and promotion initiatives

Our strategy emphasises developing talent from within. A key indicator of our commitment is the increased promotion rates for women.

In the last performance cycle, 38% of all promotions went to women, and 33% of promotions to Director level were also achieved by women. Given that women represent 35% of our global workforce, these figures highlight our focus on nurturing female talent and providing opportunities for advancement.

Redesigning interviews to mitigate bias

To further support our objective of increasing female representation in senior roles, we have revamped the scoring system for our Bar Raiser interview stage to reduce ambiguity and potential bias. This new system is currently being piloted in the Operations function to evaluate its impact and ensure it effectively supports unbiased hiring decisions.

Grassroot development

Building a diverse talent pipeline starts at the grassroots level. Following the expansion of our Early Careers programme, we have achieved a 50/50 gender split in our graduate cohort. This balanced starting point enables us to develop a future pipeline that's inclusive and gender-balanced, supporting long-term diversity goals.

Enhancing learning and development

To further empower our employees and support their career growth, we launched a new learning and development platform, resulting in over 3,000 employees engaging in self-directed learning. This platform equips employees with the necessary tools to enhance their skills, which is vital for career advancement and aligns with our diversity objectives.

Increasing female representation in skills interviewing

In our efforts to promote gender diversity in hiring processes, we launched a campaign to increase the number of women conducting skills interviews, particularly for problem-solving roles. As a result, the representation of women in the new cohort of women interviewers has increased from 25% in the previous cohort to 37.5% as of Q2 2024. This shift demonstrates our commitment to creating balanced and inclusive hiring panels.

Clarifying promotion frameworks

Transparency in career progression is key to fostering a diverse workforce. We have developed clear promotion frameworks from Senior to Lead roles, outlining the competencies required for advancement. This initiative aims to make promotions more accessible and fair, and we plan to evaluate its impact in the Q4 2024 promotion cycle.

What's next?

Adverse impact modelling
We have developed a process for modelling adverse impact and will conduct these analyses across hiring in Q4. We will test for statistically significant differences in selection rates for protected groups, initially monitoring two of our assessment vendors.

Work analysis project
We're launching a structured work analysis process to systematically identify core job requirements and key competencies, ensuring fair and legally compliant recruitment and performance management. This foundational step aims to mitigate human biases.

Diverse talent pipeline
We're committed to maintaining a 50/50 gender split in our graduate and intern cohorts, including in engineering, where gender balance is typically less common. This continued effort will help us build a robust and diverse future talent pipeline.

Conclusion

Our commitment to the Women in Finance Charter is more than a promise​ — it’s a comprehensive strategy underpinned by data, action, and accountability. By continuously refining our processes, supporting female talent, and focusing on strategic initiatives, we're confident in our path toward greater gender diversity and inclusion in our organisation.

Reporting period: September 2023 - September 2024