Women are still underrepresented in senior management positions in European banks, according to a report published Monday that highlighted how nine banks employed no women at all in their top executive group.
(Bloomberg) — Women are still underrepresented in senior management positions in European banks, according to a report published Monday that highlighted how nine banks employed no women at all in their top executive group.
Only 23% of C-suite roles within European banks were occupied by women in 2022, a DBRS Morningstar report lead by Charlotte Cervin and Elisabeth Rudman showed. That percentage shows little to no improvement over the last two years.
Just four of the 62 banks in the analysis had a female CEO in 2022, the report said. Although there has been a greater push for more gender diversity at companies and some countries have introduced quotas for women on companies’ boards, it’s still rare to see parity at the highest echelons in Europe’s financial services industry.
Deutsche Bank AG has faced particular scrutiny this year as it struggles to retain female talent after board member Christiana Riley and Asia private banking head Jin Yee Young left the bank. Chief Financial Officer Claire Peel and Americas ETF head Fiona Bassett at its investment arm DWS Group also exited.
Read More: Departing Female Executives Stunt German Bid to Close Gender Gap
Only 14 banks in the study’s sample had 30% or more women in their top executive group.
Women made up 38% of board positions in 2022 across the banks, a slight improvement from 36% a year earlier, the study shows. The European Union set a target last year for women to hold at least 33% of all director positions in boards by June 2026, with penalties to be set by individual member states for non-compliance.
“One of main arguments in favor of imposing gender quotas on company boards is that a higher share of women on boards should attract more female talent to the company and increase the presence of women at all levels of management and in the workforce,” Cervin and Rudman wrote in the note.
“Based on our analysis, we found a positive correlation between female representation at the board and at the executive level, suggesting that a higher share of women on a board of directors has a positive impact on the number of women in executive roles.”
In Spain, three of the largest lenders have women among their top positions, including Ana Botin the chairwoman at Banco Santander SA, and Maria Dolores Dancausa the chief executive officer of Bankinter SA. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA named Luisa Gomez Bravo as its as new chief financial officer earlier this year.
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2023 Bloomberg L.P.