City falls behind Europe as female appointments to top jobs slips dramatically

City firms are facing calls for bolder action on gender diversity after new figures showed the UK had slumped well behind European peers in appointing women to senior roles.

The number of women being appointed to top positions at the UK’s largest financial services firms fell 28 percentage points year-on-year in 2023, with women making up just 33 per cent of total appointments, according to the latest EY European Financial Services Boardroom Monitor.

The figures mark a sharp drop from 2022 when women made up 61 per cent of total appointments, and push the UK well behind comparable European financial centres.

In France, 64 per cent of board directors appointed in 2023 were female, while 54 per cent of German appointments and 45 per cent of Italian appointments were women. 

Bosses at EY said the dip in the UK pointed to a worrying trend and firms needed to act.

“Improving board-level gender diversity can only happen if female talent is nurtured at all levels,” Anna Anthony, EY’s managing partner of financial services, told City A.M. 

“This requires a long-term commitment to foster a strong female talent pipeline at all levels and ensure the right support is in place for women to take on senior leadership roles.”

Increasing diversity was a “must have” rather than a “nice to have”, she added.

The report also highlighted that there are no women in senior board positions at 26 per cent of listed financial services firms in the UK, senior positions include chair, CEO, CFO and senior independent director.

The issue of gender parity in the boardroom has been thrust into the spotlight in recent months by a parliamentary inquiry into sexism in the City. Amanda Blanc, chief executive of insurance giant Aviva, told the Treasury Committee last month that she has heard from “hundreds” of women describing their experiences of misogyny while working in the financial sector,

At the launch of the inquiry in July, the Treasury select committee said it would explore the role that government and regulators could play in ensuring “cultures and policies support women’s aspirations and progress” and whether “financial services careers should be marketed to a more diverse base of individuals”.

Regulators are increasingly edging into the space to force firms to boost their inclusion and diversity strategies. In November, the Financial Conduct Authority and Prudential Regulation Authority published joint plans to clampdown on discrimination.

According to separate plans published by the FCA in 2022, firms are expected to appoint at least 40 per cent of the board should be women. 

EY found that 21 per cent of UK-listed financial firms still report under 40 per cent women on their boards. The UK is ahead of its European peers at 31 per cent.