Amid efforts to combat gender discrimination in the financial services sector, the chief executive of Virgin Money has warned that the insurance industry is not keeping up with its peers.
“One area of financial services I think we should shine a spotlight on is insurance. The insurance sector is definitely less committed to this agenda than the banking sector,” Virgin Money CEO Jayne-Anne Gadhia told MPs on the Treasury Select Committee on Tuesday.
Gadhia’s advocacy drove the government to launch the Women in Finance Charter last year. It is a commitment by HM Treasury and signatory firms to work together to build a more balanced and fair industry.
Those who sign the charter pledge to four key industry actions:
- Having one member of the senior executive team who is responsible and accountable for gender diversity and inclusion
- Setting internal targets for gender diversity in senior management
- Publishing progress annually against these targets in reports on its website
- Having an intention to ensure the pay of the senior executive team is linked to delivery against internal targets on gender diversity
Gadhia said banks are the most supportive part of the sector, as they “are almost universally supportive of what we are trying to achieve here, and also are making the most progress.”
“I wonder if that is because they have tried to work out what to do about their culture post-crisis, it has held banks’ feet to the fire more quickly than in other areas of financial services,” she added.
Nevertheless she said there are those in the insurance sector to empower women, such as Inga Beale, chief of Lloyd's. “Her view is that the insurance sector can do a lot more in order to progress women in insurance and we need to look at the barriers to progress there,” Gadhia said.
According to her figures, only 14% of senior positions in the financial services sector are held by women. As of July this year, 141 firms across the financial services sector had signed the charter.
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