Today is International Women’s Day.
The theme for International Women’s Day this year is #BreakTheBias.
According to Deloitte’s Within Reach 2021 report, the Covid-19 pandemic slowed the momentum we had seen toward gender parity in leadership roles. In 2021, the proportion of women in leadership roles within financial services firms was 24%, a number that is projected to rise to 28% by 2030 – still significantly below parity.?The gap further continues to grow between women in senior leadership roles and in the C-suite, currently standing at 9% but likely to widen to 14% by 2030.?
To address this 100 Women in Finance has adopted a guiding principle called Vision 30/40: the goal for women to occupy 30% of senior investment roles and executive committee positions by 2040.?Whilst the Women in Finance Charter reflects the government’s aspiration to see gender balance at all levels across financial services firms. Recognising that a balanced workforce is good for business – it is good for customers, for profitability and workplace culture, and is increasingly attractive for investors.
Clearly, a disparity still exists in the FSI sector as it stands today, but it doesn’t mean it will stay that way. If the pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that dynamic change can deliver dynamic results.?
As the world recovers and FSIs fully understand the impressive track record of female leaders in driving collaborative organisations throughout this time of crisis, as well as a greater momentum generally toward embedding diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) it is our hope that more and more women will have the opportunity to participate in leadership roles.
With this in mind, to celebrate International Women’s Day 2022 I would like to take a moment to recognise the noteworthy accomplishments of some female leaders in FSI.
Leading Women in Financial Services
Penny James, CEO Direct Line Group
- Penny has been CEO of Direct Line since May 2019. The Board benefits from Penny’s deep understanding of the sector as well as her leadership skills, financial and risk expertise, strategic thinking, and cultural alignment. She is leading Direct Line’s technological and business transformation including long-term sustainability.?Under her leadership, 89% of DLG’s people say it is a highly inclusive place to work. And she has cemented a culture that empowers positive gender diversity action to attract, grow and retain talented women.
?Milena Mondini de Focatiis, CEO Admiral
- Milena joined Admiral in 2007 and became chief executive of its Italian venture ConTE, before taking up the position as CEO in 2021 and steering the company through pandemic recovery.?She has been praised for ensuring Admiral staff were always at the centre of the decision-making thinking and in supporting its customers and local communities.??Milena is conscious of the need to get more women into senior FSI roles.?Leading by example, many of Admiral’s global executives are women, and half of its board is female, including its chair, Annette Court.
Catherine Lewis La Torre, CEO British Business Bank
- Catherine was appointed chief executive of the British Business Bank (BBB) in September 2020, after a 25-year career in private equity.?She hit the ground running and was immediately ready to take up the struggle to keep companies afloat in the pandemic providing ￡65billion of government-guaranteed loans to more than 1.5m small and medium firms.?She believes it is vital for future FSI success that women are empowered to make their way to the top.
?June Felix, CEO IG Group
- June became CEO of IG Group in 2018.?She is a passionate believer in meritocracy, championing gender diversity, and women’s inclusion across the global jurisdictions in which IG operates. Under her leadership, IG has increased female representation in the business by almost 5% and introduced the ‘One IG Goals’ initiative, which includes setting ambitious regional targets to challenge local leaders and drive women’s representation and retention in the organisation.
Alison Rose, CEO RBS Group
- Alison was deputy chief executive of Natwest before becoming RBS boss in September 2019, the first woman to lead one of the UK’s big four banks.?Alison is included in the Women in FinTech Powerlist and named in Vogue’s Top 25 Most Influential Women.?She’s a passionate supporter of diversity and executive sponsor for the bank’s employee-led networks.?Alison was commissioned by the UK government to report on the barriers to women starting businesses. She now sits on the Rose Review Board and is responsible for driving forward its recommendations.
Amanda Blanc, CEO Aviva
- Amanda was CEO of Zurich Insurance Group before becoming a board member at Aviva, and then its CEO in January 2020.?She was listed 26th in the Forbes' 100 most powerful women of 2021 which features some of the world's best-known names across finance, world leadership and business.?In 2021 Amanda was appointed by HM Treasury as its Women in Finance Champion, leading the charge to tackle unequal gender representation in FSI.?Her ambition at Aviva is to have 40% female leaders by 2024 by focusing on flexible working initiatives and getting more women into the talent pipeline.
Invest in the success of women
Of course, there are far more talented women at every level in FSI than we could ever hope to summarise in a single blog. While it’s fantastic to celebrate our incredible female colleagues and the work we do to support them, International Women’s Day is also an opportunity to look at what still needs to be done and of course, it isn’t just about senior positions. True access to opportunity means erasing all barriers women face at work.?It is the responsibility of us all to inspire a new generation of women to become the leaders of tomorrow, redressing the gender inequality balance once and for all.?
FullCircl is passionately committed to diversity, equality, and inclusion. Ours is a diverse team of people, we draw strength from our differences and work collaboratively.?We believe this is vital to ensuring we perform to our best and build a more sustainable, responsible, and successful business.?We are not alone in this thinking…
Research by McKinsey found gender-diverse companies outperform their national industry averages on profitability.?Another study by Catalyst, a non-profit community working globally to help build workplaces that work for women, found that firms with more women in management positions enjoy 35% more return on equity than firms that lack gender diversity.?
Before you go, I would like to take a minute to introduce you to some of our leading women.
Meet a few of the inspiring women of FullCircl
Richa Jain, Senior QA Consultant
- Starting out as a software tester, Richa spent 13 years working for some leading tech brands including Microsoft and a US election voting vendor where she learnt to deliver the highest quality product in the market.?However, until she joined FullCircl Richa had found it increasingly difficult to convey her value or find the sense of empowerment and belongingness she craved from an employer partly due to working remotely and from a different continent. At FullCircl Richa can take ownership of new work items in new technologies without the fear of failure, she is able to showcase her creativity in improving the quality of our product.?Richa also has the flexibility to balance her work life and professional ambition with her most important role as a mother.
Lucy Huntley, Senior Customer Success Manager
- Lucy is an ex-banker with 30 years' experience.?Leaving school at 16 and becoming a mother at 20 she was determined to create a career whilst?also inspiring her children to be independent and successful.?During her career in banking, Lucy progressed?rapidly through the ranks and spent 15 years in leadership roles. At FullCircl Lucy feels empowered to use her corporate banking experience to help our customers and as a female leader in FSI, she feels passionate about paying it forward and inspiring other women to achieve their dreams.
Amy Musk, Director of Customer Success??
- Having spent nearly 10 years in various commercial leadership positions, Amy found her home in customer success where she pairs her love for working with people and her experience in operational transformation.?Sitting on the FullCircl leadership team Amy is passionate about elevating and celebrating women in business. Recognising there is always more that can be done, she is excited to continue working with her customers and colleagues alike to create opportunities for everyone to shine and thrive.?
Sophie Smith, Senior Customer Success Manager & Team Lead
- In her five years with FullCircl Sophie has grabbed every opportunity to develop and grow her skills and this has seen her ascend quickly into a senior leadership role.?She now manages three strong, up and coming, women who are future stars in the industry. As part of that responsibility, she is working to help them develop a strong sense of self-belief and integrity, just as her female mentors did for her.?
Merridee Arthur, VP GTM, Enablement & Strategic Accounts
- Merridee believes that leaders must inspire, support and trailblaze, which is exactly what she has done during her 9 years with FullCirlc.?She has always felt empowered to express her vision of how she can impact growth, whilst at the same time empowering those around her to challenge the status quo and strive for greatness.?Her best tip for building a successful team is realising everyone is an individual and looking for skills in new hires that complement and grow the entire team, this allows for individuality, specialism, and diversity within the team, which together achieve greatness.
On International Women's Day, we say thank you to all the women of FullCircl, female leaders in FSI and women’s achievement everywhere.?
