27/4/26

Half of EU banks bereft of female executives

Survey by European Banking Authority underlines glacial progress on gender diversity

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This article is republished from The Financial Times

Almost half of EU banks and investment firms have no women executive directors, according to a top watchdog that said a sizeable chunk of the sector was failing to meet regulations on gender diversity.

About a fifth of all executive directors at the 850 banks and investment companies surveyed by the European Banking Authority are women and they were paid 17 per cent less than their male counterparts.

Women occupy top jobs at some major EU financial services companies, such as Santander’s executive chair Ana Botín, Amundi’s boss Valérie Baudson and Commerzbank’s chief executive Bettina Orlopp. Almost 46 per cent of the companies had no female executive directors.

But the EBA figures indicate that the proportion of women in senior positions in EU financial services companies has been rising only slowly and it remains lower than in the UK or US.

Only 12 per cent of the firms surveyed had a woman as chief executive, according to 2024 data the EBA published on Thursday.

EBA analysis found there was a correlation between gender diversity and profitability in financial services, “reinforcing the case for stronger diversity practices”.

It said institutions with both men and women in their management team had a weighted average return on equity of 12.8 per cent, while those with executives of only one gender had a return of 7.4 per cent.

Under EU rules, financial services companies are required to have policies to promote gender diversity, including setting targets to improve the representation of women.

But the EBA said about a fifth of the companies it assessed did not have a diversity policy and a third were not setting quantitative targets for female representation. Less than half the investment firms it assessed had set gender diversity targets.

The Paris-based authority said national regulators should “consider taking appropriate supervisory measures” if companies keep ignoring the rules.

Between 2022 and 2024, women were recruited to fill just over 26 per cent of executive director vacancies at the companies surveyed by the EBA. That was only slightly higher than the previous two years when women made up just over 24 per cent of new C-suite recruits.

“The gender balance of newly recruited directors has improved over time but is still insufficient, in particular, with regard to the management body,” the EBA said in its report, which it publishes every three years.

In the UK, the proportion of women in senior management roles in financial services has risen from 32 per cent in 2021 to 37 per cent, according to research by New Financial for the UK Treasury published last month.

The US data on gender diversity in financial services is patchier. But a survey last year by consultants McKinsey found women held 27 per cent of C-suite positions at US financial services companies.

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