Anne Richards
CEO,M&G
There is a myth propagated by many in investment management that you can only do it if you are chained to your desk full-time, and that somehow, if you have a break for six months, you lose all your market knowledge. Obviously that's nonsense, but even the possibility you might contemplate motherhood can become a hurdle for women in the industry. Gender generalizations are also damaging. There is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to women and men - there are more differences between women and between men than between the average woman and the average man.
Chairman,
a FTSE 100 company
Half of the highly educated population is underutilized. We educate women to a high standard, but don't get enough back. That's not good for women or the economy. I want to see greater diversity because of the business benefit.
Euan Munro
CEO,Aviva Investors
In real estate and private equity, there are closed networks, and who you know is very important. That might be an obstacle for women.
Nicola Foster
Head of Transformation, Shared Services,HSBC
There still seems to be a view that women in leadership are an unknown quantity and somehow more of a risk. So there has to be a higher degree of certainty that a woman is going to perform, than if you were looking at a man for the same job.
Roselyne Renel
Chief Risk Officer Europe & Americas, Global Head Enterprise-wide Risk Management,Standard Chartered Bank
Diversity is a good thing. To have all of the same type of people in the same environment does not necessarily bring the best point of view or the challenge that is needed.
Anna Jarosz-Friis
Head of Unit, Task Force Financial Crisis,European Commission DG COMP
You need a sufficient amount of senior managers who are female in the pipeline to have some promoted to the top level. Now, the Commission is making a conscious effort to build the pipeline of candidates to be able to create a balance of female leaders at the highest level.
Roselyne Renel
Chief Risk Officer Europe & Americas, Global Head Enterprise-wide Risk Management,Standard Chartered Bank
If I need to approve a deal, why can't I do that from home?
Pia Marions
CFO,Folksam
After you have kids and you want to return to work, it's about getting the support from your colleagues and managers, and getting the flexibility to be able to work from wherever you are. It needs to be accepted that you will log in and log out.
Alessa Quane
Executive Vice President and Chief Risk Officer,AIG
In trying to achieve gender balance, equal pay must be one of the key measures of success.
Seon-Joo Kwon
Chairman & CEO,Industrial Bank of Korea
In Korea, whilst it is not as strong as in the past, there is strong tradition or culture that child care and homecare is the woman's job. This cultural pressure is the reason that so many women leave their potentially successful careers, even when they don't want to.
Thomas DeLuca
CEO,AMP Credit Technology
Being an entrepreneur in this space is not nearly as glamorous as it may seem but what it does do is permit you the opportunity to pick the fight you want to fight, and to do so from the front row - not even the front row - but frankly, an in-the-trenches street-level fight of changing things.
Maria Silvia Bastos Marques
Board Member,MMC
Girls and boys continue to be raised differently even today. I still see parents replicating the same behavior that their ancestors had. We need to see a change in societal norms and attitudes to provide women with the same opportunities as men.
Christine van Rijsseghem
CRO,KBC Group
We as leaders have a responsibility to push the right mindset down through the organisation. If we see behaviour which goes against our culture, we should have zero tolerance for it. And we should ensure people know this is not just for fun; this is part of our DNA.
Millennial woman,
Financial Services Industry
Do people realize how amazing women are? We are so strong and resilient!
Renée Roberts
Group Executive, Enterprise Services and Transformation,National Australia Bank
It's not just about gender anymore; it's about humanizing the workforce and making it a healthy environment for all types of people to flourish in.
Pan Jing
CMO,Dianrong.com
The Internet has become a main driver of the growth, and there is a shortage of good talent. This has created more opportunities for women to move forward in their careers, not because they are women but because they are good managers.
Mary Ellen Iskenderian
President and CEO,Women's World Banking
Women are too often only considered for positions where they would be replacing another woman. We need women to fill roles they in the past traditionally haven't.
Millennial woman,
Financial Services Industry
After a few years, you reach a point where you realize you don't want to put up with this nonsense anymore…The opportunity cost of doing the job just gets too big, so you leave
Anne Marion-Bouchacourt
Group Chief Country Officer for China,Société Générale
Progress to gender balance is slow in financial services. Whilst awareness is increasing, real change is only catching up slowly.
Christine Palmer
CRO,Aldermore
The most effective challenge comes from someone with a different perspective, asking probing questions.
Susan Skerritt
Global Head of Institutional Cash Management & Head of Global Transaction Banking, Americas,,Deutsche Bank
We need diversity of thought - gender diversity is only one part of this.
Sarah Bates
Chairman,St James's Place
I am not sure measures higher up are the answer, until we have resolved the problem lower down. What's happening at the incoming level with women is important and concerning.
Marguerite Bérard-Andrieu
Management Board Member,BPCE Group
To help more women reach management positions, we need to build up more comprehensive and varied career paths rather than single-function paths (HR, Communications or Legal), which do not transition easily to management functions. Boosting our female talent pool is essential for our success.
Ana Peralta
Board Member and Chair of Audit and Risk Committee,Deutsche Bank SAE (Spain)
Some women feel so overwhelmed by the prospect of climbing up the ladder to the top while raising their children that they just give up their careers. The challenge is to allow women to have a successful career without sacrificing their family lives.
Sune Brugman
CRO Corporate and Investment Banking,Standard Bank
Risk managers need to be able to look beyond their own frame of reference.
Valeria Sannucci
Deputy Governor,Bank of Italy
Many women chose the public sector because it is perceived as more transparent, objective, and meritocratic: If you are good, you pass the public examination and you advance in your career. Also, women tend to drive their career choices by practical considerations (stability, economic independence), and from this perspective, the public sector is perceived as a 'safe harbor'.
Lucy Macdonald
CIO Global Equities,Allianz Global Investors
Portfolio management can be very competitive and have a harsh culture. This is not necessarily a barrier for women - they can deal with pressure, but may have a reference not to. Overall, the more negative perception of the sector since the financial crisis appears to have impacted its attraction as a destination for female graduates to a disproportionate extent.
Christine Bortenlänger
CEO,Deutsches Aktieninstitut
Why on earth is it not fully tax deductible to employ a nanny or cleaning support? Why can we not fully deduct taxes for the creation of a job? That would make it more viable for women to go to work in an environment that still has quite traditional role expectations for men and women.
Anne Marion-Bouchacourt
Group Chief Country Officer for China,Société Générale
People may say women cannot be promoted because they are not pushy enough and then, when they are, they say they cannot be promoted because they are too tough…
Millennial woman,
Financial Services Industry
All of our senior leaders are older, white males. They are the ones who set the culture that we experience every day, despite any programmatic efforts by the bank.
Melanie Neill
CRO COO,Credit Suisse
I don't think that's an issue...Women working in compliance and legal also need to stand up for their own view, and [women in those fields] are very comfortable to do this.
Director,
Global Asset Manager
Portfolio management can appear quite boys-clubby. The majority of portfolio managers are male, and often come from the same schools - if you don't fit that mold, it is easy to feel like you are not part of the club.
Eva Lindholm
Group Managing Director,UBS
I went through mandatory unconscious bias training (we wouldn't get our bonus unless we had done it), and it blew my socks off. I also observed a number of men who went in moaning, coming out saying 'that was the most useful training I have ever done.'
Sarah Bates
Chairman,St James's Place
I think there is some really practical help that you can give people - tactics and ways of reflecting on yourself that enable you to develop resilience. I remember being told by a sponsor 'if you want sympathy, get a dog' and I disliked him for it, but it was quite an eye opening comment.
Maria Morris
Executive Vice President,MetLife
It is not just one thing - we need to work on this on multiple fronts: we need more women at the top to set the example and set the tone. We need to deal with unconscious bias. And we need a whole set of programs to help development and career mobility for women.
Roselyne Renel
Chief Risk Officer Europe & Americas, Global Head Enterprise-wide Risk Management,Standard Chartered Bank
I enjoy the challenge!
Sara Ferrari
Head of Family Office,UBS Global
Board gender balance changes the way organizations are managed only to a certain extent. If you want change, you need to go to ExCo level and below. Board representation is important, but the diversity dial will truly begin to move if you start seeing women at ExCo level as well.
Anne Richards
CEO,M&G
Financial Services is still very male dominated, and women are therefore often not part of the 'dominant' group. This matters, because, as Laura Liswood describes, if you are not in the dominant group you have an extra hurdle to jump: You are perceived as less competent and less trustworthy than those in the group, until you demonstrate otherwise. If you are the only person in a room wearing a skirt, you have extra work to do to prove that you have a right to be there
Charlotte Gerken
Director Supervisory Risk Specialists,PRA
It's important to encourage women to have more of a risk appetite to take chances and put themselves forward for advancement; there is a tendency to concentrate on what you can't do rather than what you can do. What I have found successful is encouraging women to act into or cover a senior role so they have more confidence to apply on a permanent basis.
Laura Dottori-Attanasio
Senior Executive Vice President and CRO,CIBC
Having concrete and actionable targets is the only way to move the dial towards gender equality.
Françoise Mercadal-Delasalles
Executive Committee Member,Société Générale
We have become too accustomed with women working in support roles, and this can have negative effects. When women reach senior positions, and begin to compete with men, they can sometimes suffer harsh reactions. I have seen some men attempt to undermine some women by negatively highlighting their emotional and sensitive nature.
Andrea Smith
Chief Administrative Officer,Bank of America
It's important to have people believe in you, to take chances on you. But you also have to be fearless and willing to make mistakes along the way. It's all in your perspective. Whenever I pushed myself and took risks with my career, I asked myself: 'What's the worst that could happen if this does not work out?' Taking this view enabled me to be more confident, to not be afraid of failing, and to step out of my comfort zone.
Jo Paisley
Global Head of Stress Testing,HSBC
Being good at risk management requires an open mind and willingness to think the unthinkable. It's in a CEO's interest to get the best team, which means supporting diversity in every dimension.
Katherine Grantham
Balance Network,HSBC
Unfortunately few organisations seem to really pursue diversity for the sake of unlocking business performance. Many appear to be doing diversity as a box ticking exercise - this will not turn the dial.
Modupe Ladipo
Non-Executive Director,Enhancing Financial Innovation & Access (EFInA)
Our Access to Financial Services in Nigeria 2014 survey covering 20,000 Nigerian consumers revealed that almost 50 percent of adults believe that taking loans should be avoided as much as possible, and that adults can easily live their lives without having a bank account.
Else Bos
CEO,PGGM
We take account of team diversity and individual profiles. When filling a vacancy, considering the match of the individual profile with the team profile is part of the HR process. We are using an external provider to measure the profiles.
Sarah Owen-Jones
CRO,Rathbones
The more diverse your team's background, thinking, and style, the more likely you are to find as many risks as possible.
Maria Cristina Arrastia
Chief Personnel and SME Banking Officer,Bancolombia
You need to be 'at peace' at work in order to be productive, and that only happens if you know that your kids are in good hands when you are away from them.
Modupe Ladipo
Non-Executive Director,Enhancing Financial Innovation & Access (EFInA)
An additional challenge is that financial institutions are not convinced about the business case for specifically targeting women.
Isabel Hudson
Chairman of NHBC and Non-Executive Director,Standard Life
Women bring something different to leadership meetings. Men can sometimes focus exclusively on numbers, whereas women are more likely to take a wider view that includes numbers, but also customer service and morale in the office. I find that greater gender balance means both financial and non-financial issues are more likely to be discussed in depth.
Karen Fawcett
Chief Executive Officer of Retail Banking,Standard Chartered
Everyone, men and women, will find that combining professional and personal life requires a series of trade-offs. As women typically take on greater family care responsibilities, a supportive, flexible environment is crucial in enabling them to navigate a high-level career in finance.
Francesca McDonagh
Head of Retail Banking and Wealth Management, GB and Europe,HSBC
I believe flexible working is important in order to attract and retain different talent -and as senior leaders, we must role model this behaviour if we want to normalise it across the organisation.
Sarah Owen-Jones
CRO,Rathbones
Diversity can be seen as a 'nice to have', which can lead to the point of view of 'we're fighting a crisis here. Why should I be worried about the number of women in the room?
Head of department,
European bank
It is my experience that people perceive it is less risky to pick a man. If a woman is promoted and then fails, it is much more visible than if a man fails
Lan Tu
Chief Strategy Officer,Standard Life
You need to nurture your working relationships and stay connected while you are out of work for child care leave. Without doing so, there is a risk that you will struggle to settle on your return.
Teo Mui Eng
Chief Financial Officer, Singapore and ASEAN,Citi
Women tend to 'opt out' if they are not able to envision how they can balance family commitments with their career. What is more important is the ability to come back. It's about having the right infrastructures and policies in place. This serves women but it also means organizations get to retain their talent.
Leila Fourie
Director of Post-Trade and Information Services,Johannesburg Stock Exchange
Leaders tend to hire in their likeness. The current bias of male leaders in Risk at executive level creates a virtuous circle that reinforces and exacerbates the poor representation of women at top levels.
Claire Sibthorpe
Head of GSMA Connected Women,GSMA
There's over 1.7 billion females who don't own a mobile phone. If you just look at closing in mobile ownership and usage, there is a $170 billion dollar revenue opportunity for operators between 2015 and 2020.
Pan Jing
CMO,Dianrong.com
Following the end of the one-child policy, there will likely be bigger families in China. We will probably find that more women want to be full-time mothers rather than remain in the workforce. This could pose a challenge to the progress made on gender diversity.
Susanne Klöß
Member of the Executive Board,Deutsche Postbank AG
Many organizations offer flexible work options. But once you look at who actually implements it well, and to whom it is offered, the picture looks different. Very often organizations offer flexible work options in operational functions, but in managerial positions there is still a lot of expectation around full-time presence.
Alison Davis
Non-executive Director,RBS
I have heard quite often in promotion discussions 'Oh I do not think she would want that job; she has kids'. People who say that even think they are doing something good. They are not aware of discriminating against that woman.
Graeme Brookes
Director: Governance, Risk and Compliance,Johannesburg Stock Exchange
Our success in achieving gender balance is a result of having enlightened leaders in place. They have asked the important questions, and acted. Where do we need to change? What sort of skills do we need? How do we add diverse perspectives? Have we got sufficiently diverse thinking from different sectors, experiences, ages and genders?
Audra Paton
Independent Risk Director,ICE Clear Europe
Traditionally, it has been viewed that mothers carry the domestic burden and therefore take maternity related career breaks. We now live in a world where an increasing number of employers recognise that a six or 12 month leave for a new born should not be exclusive to women, as there are lots of men out there who want the choice and opportunity to be the primary carer.
Deborah Zurkow
Head of Alternatives,Allianz Global Investors
There are still too few women Chief Investment Officers in asset management, although that is beginning to change as companies realize that diverse viewpoints are critical to understanding and managing both risk and credit in investment portfolios.
Belen Romana
Board Member,Santander
The public sector has strengths in being very meritocratic. Relationships and networks are valuable but importance is placed on technical skills that are assessed through objective 'tests/exams' that do not differentiate by gender.
Chie Toriumi
President & CEO, Nomura Trust and Banking & Senior Managing Director,Nomura Holdings
Many other Asian countries I visit have more female senior management in Financial Services than Japan. Japan is more masculine. One of the reasons might be the Japanese traditional 'lifetime employment system', under which organizations pay enough to nurture a family, meaning wives do not have to work outside the home - it is expected that they will stay at home to support their hard-working husbands. But we are seeing this situation slowly change as increasing numbers of highly educated women want to build or restart their careers and the labor market becomes more fluid.
Mariona Vicens
Director of Strategic Development and Innovation,CaixaBank
I think in some areas we definitely still associate success with attributes that would be more traditionally associated with men rather than women - this needs to change
Alison Davis
Non-executive Director,RBS
In the US, we are seeing increased institutional investor pressure for more diversity... Investors play an important role here and are starting to be more vocal about things like diverse Boards that correlate with better long-term sustainable performance.
Marina Natale
Deputy General Manager - Head of Strategy & Finance,UniCredit
The key thing is to provide women with adequate infrastructure to manage their families. Provide them with child care where they can leave their kids in tranquillity. This is especially needed in countries where often the only available infrastructure is family.
D&I Director,
Asset Manager
We recently had one male portfolio manager take shared parental leave. That had a major positive impact on the overall team.
Maria Cannata
Director General, Public Debt, Treasury Department,Italian Ministry of Economy & Finance
One of key things that the sector can do to support women is to provide child-care infrastructure, and this is especially true in Italy, where the infrastructure is often very limited.
Female senior executive,
Chinese Fintech
When I worked in the US, there were more women support groups, which give you access to senior women mentors. I don't see this as a common practice in China.
Roselyne Renel
Chief Risk Officer Europe & Americas, Global Head Enterprise-wide Risk Management,Standard Chartered Bank
How CEOs view the Risk function, how they involve Risk in senior decision making and strategy…, this changes the perception of what risk is and what it does and will attract more people, especially women.
Millennial woman,
Financial Services Industry
I was shocked when I came to work to see that there were so few women, so little diversity. I was so naive. It was a complete culture shock
Pan Jing
CMO,Dianrong.com
While we recognize the progress we have made towards creating an equal playing field for women in China, we also have to recognize the sometimes unpleasant reality that women can receive more verbal abuse than men, especially in traditional industries such as financial services. As female executives, we need to build awareness on this issue. We need to speak out in the boardrooms and stand behind female employees to create an amiable work environment for everyone.
Julie Winkler
Senior Managing Director, Research, Product Development and Index Services,CME Group
Innovation and diversity go hand in hand. More women lead to more diverse opinions, which a key ingredient for innovation.
Louise Holden
Director, Public Private Partnerships,MasterCard
This is an opportunity for a government to say we can promote economic growth, we can challenge and reduce the costs of the shadow economy, we can also reduce the operating costs of our welfare disbursement programmes as well as possibly solve for any gaps in formal identification if we bring more women into banking.
Mark Zinkula
CEO,LGIM
I think the problem of attracting women is mainly around culture and perception of the industry, not the nature of the portfolio management roles.
Daniela Weber-Rey
Former Chief Governance Officer,Deutsche Bank AG
Trying to protect women is the wrong approach. It is key to provide challenge and sponsorship and to set high goals.
Manuela Better
CRO,Dekabank Deutsche Girozentrale
Even if the employee and employer are aligned on a solution that gives flexibility to the employee and allows them to continue their career, they face significant hurdles. Also, companies need to getmore flexible. Remote and part-time leadership is not a problem per se - I've worked with very successful examples.
Dorothee van Vredenburch
Chief Change & Organisation and Member of the Management Board,NN Group
We want sufficient diversity in our recruitment and promotion decisions - on both sides of the table. We make sure that there are always women on the shortlist. Equally, we make sure there are women on the panels making the decision.
Ana Fernanda Maiguashca
Co-Director,Central Bank of Colombia
We need to nurture the idea that everyone earns the same for performing the same, regardless of who they are. Woman, man, dog, or cat.
Laura Liswood
former Managing Director, Goldman Sachs and Secretary General,Council of Women World Leaders
There is something else going on that women don't make it to the top. Work-life balance is not a particularly useful explanation.
Mary Ellen Iskenderian
President and CEO,Women's World Banking
If I asked you to close your eyes and I described a market that was 1.1 billion people, who were unserved across the globe, would you ever just ignore this market? Would you ever think that this is not an opportunity that you should be developing?
Chairman,
FTSE 100 company
I am concerned about a male-dominated fund management community. I wonder what this means in terms of investor pressure to improve diversity across industries.
Yannick Cox
Head of Division, Supervision,Bank of England
You're not joining a financial services institution, you're joining a well-regarded public sector institution. There is better work-life balance and tools that facilitate combining high pressure and meaningful work with a family life. For example, we support flexible working even at senior levels.
Birgit Dietl-Benzin
CFO and CRO,UBS Deutschland AG
When I returned from maternity leave, I was again given a leadership role despite working only 50 percent. This is not yet common in the industry.
Audra Paton
Independent Risk Director,ICE Clear Europe
It's a serious career with massive potential. You're integral and relied upon. You don't need to be part of the executive team to have senior influence and impact - Risk is fundamental to core decision making. That's empowerment.
Marisa Drew
Managing Director, Co-Head EMEA Investment Banking and Capital Markets,Credit Suisse
In the absence of senior female leaders, young women are prone to say to themselves: I don't believe I can get there, because I don't see any role models who have gotten there. That can be a big influencer in their decision to opt out.
Kuang Xuxia
CFO,Dianrong.com
When hiring a woman, interviewers in China can be more direct in their consideration of family status than in the US, for example. If a woman is pregnant, the impact on continuity would be a consideration for the hiring company.
Sunil Sachdev
Chief Business Development Officer,Meed
Although many institutions are working on financial inclusion, nothing so far has been able to scale. If we developed a shared incentive that delivered meaningful revenue and benefits for all parties, then banks, corporations, strategic partners, and individuals could pool resources and be able to achieve so much more.
Stanislava Zadravec Caprirolo
Vice Governor,Bank of Slovenia
In my nearly 30 years of experience, I have learned that it is most efficient for an organization to have diversity of gender and age in its human resources. Such organizations typically perform better than more homogeneous ones.
Elena Ruiz Abril
Principal Gender Adviser,EBRD
Targeting women is not about a single product you need to roll out. It is about changing the way you think. Changing the way you do banking.
Sandra Wirfs
MD,Deutsche Bank
Women have to be determined and focused in order to pursue a career in Germany. Maternity breaks need to be managed just like any other career move on the way: you need to have a plan, actively engage with your stakeholders, and make sure you have a sponsor behind you. Sometimes this does not go smoothly, but each career has ups and downs. In Germany, however, I see (way too) many highly talented women who decide to opt out during a down [period], as they still have the very broadly accepted option of not working full-time/at all.
Ana Fernanda Maiguashca
Co-Director,Central Bank of Columbia
This is about equality for men too. They have the right to go home early to see their kids, the right to take them to the doctor, the right to go to the Christmas play. But they are not expected to. They have the right to have a bad year at work and not be considered a "loser" that is not able to support his family. It is a rough deal for them too.
Sergio P. Ermotti
Group CEO,UBS Group AG
Diversity is not just about doing the right thing - but about attracting and retaining the best talent. We must also reflect the diversity of our clients. A diverse clientele expects diversity in its service providers, someone they can relate to and who understands them.
Melanie Neill
COO CRO,Credit Suisse
I am 100 percent convinced that the issues with flexible work are not mechanical or logistical but are attitude problems.
Dougie Brew
Director External Affairs, Communications and Sustainable Living,Unilever
The cost and complexity of collecting information to build a sound business case is no longer the barrier it once was. The capabilities and ease of integration of new technology into operations is giving information that we've never had before.
Pan Jing
CMO,Dianrong.com
(At Dianrong), our corporate culture actively promotes women in the senior leadership. Our ratio is probably higher than other companies. We treat women as equal partners because they are equally capable...This is a critical time to reflect on how we promote gender diversity in fintech, particularly as the incentives for women to stay in the workforce are likely to change. This can include mentoring programs, gender equality programs, support groups.
Melanie Neill
CRO COO,Credit Suisse
Most Risk individuals have a maths and analysis background...in the past you needed to have a core technical competence to support a Risk role, but now and going forward we also need a broader set of skills that goes beyond analytics, including leadership and change management (as examples). For this reason, I believe more women will find their way into Risk.
Julie Winkler
Senior Managing Director, Research, Product Development and Index Services,CME Group
There needs to be more conversation across organizations in the industry so we can learn from each other and see what worked and what didn't. We almost need an open source code that everyone can see.
Daniela Weber-Rey
Former Chief Governance Officer,Deutsche Bank AG
Some men who want to be supportive can actually be derogatory. When they say 'Oh that woman can't do that job - she has a family,' they may think they are doing her a favor, but in reality they are not taking her for real. They are patronizing her.
Roselyne Renel
Chief Risk Officer Europe & Americas, Global Head Enterprise-wide Risk Management,Standard Chartered Bank
Graduates are your pipeline - if you look after and nurture them, you are going to get really good people.
Allegra van Hövell-Patrizi
CRO,Aegon
Everyone needs to find their own balance and source of happiness. For some women, making a difference at work and the sense of fulfillment from this carries great weight; for others, it is caring fulltime for their family, and for many it is a well-crafted mix of those.
David Cole
CFO,Swiss Re
In order to make flexible work programs work, senior managers have to not only set examples themselves, but they also have to teach line managers how to evolve their management approach in a flexible working environment.
Stephanie von Friedeburg
Chief Information Officer and Vice President, Information and Technology Solutions,World Bank Group
Leaders need to watch out for diverse talent and ensure opportunities come their way.
Muriel Lotto
Vice President, Global Marketing Strategy and Brand Management,Western Union
We are going to need to think big, start small and act fast!
Chiara Zilioli
General Counsel,European Central Bank
I always say that the biggest gift the ECB gives its staff is the crèche. A physically, socially and intellectually stimulating environment for the children, not a 'parking' place. A place where educated mothers can feel comfortable to leave their children for many hours, without feeling guilty, and with the awareness that this time and this experience is benefiting the child and that they are in good hands.
Sunil Sachdev
Chief Business Development Officer,Meed
[Governments] all recognize the role that women play ... I think where they get stuck is how best to incentivize public and private sectors to work together.
Maria Mercedes Cuellar
President,FELABAN
The role of women in the home and family needs to evolve for them to increase their presence at work.
Christian Finckh
Chief HR Officer,Allianz
Still, many managers have an expectation that one has to make significant sacrifices to demonstrate readiness for a career. Of course, a career many times requires hard work, a high commitment to the firm, and international experience. But it is also important that a company offers career solutions that do not put the family at risk and create a level playing field for men and women.
Nina Klingspor
CFO,Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty
Many men are also suffering from a high-pressure environment at work, have self-doubts, and are unhappy about their work-life balance. They just do not show it in the same way as women.
Roselyne Renel
Chief Risk Officer Europe & Americas, Global Head Enterprise-wide Risk Management,Standard Chartered Bank
People think that risk managers have to be there, to be present, in the same building.
Brenda Trenowden
Global Chair at 30% Club and Head of Financial Institutions, Europe,ANZ
Our campaign is focussing more and more on the ExCo and senior management, as this is where decision making and influence originates.
Beth Mooney
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer,KeyBank
Millennials are the most transformative generation since the Baby Boomers.
Susanne Klöß
Member of the Executive Board,Deutsche Postbank AG
In Germany, it is still the case that working mothers who return too quickly to work get frowned upon. In many other countries this is more of a normal case. […] Flexible work is generally offered by companies, but frequently not properly implemented.[…] The new generation (women and men) selects employers differently. They will force companies to develop innovative and new solutions for flexible work. There is a large need for change in HR departments and overall company processes to accommodate for that.
Millennial woman,
Financial Services Industry
Women don't stay because it's the path of least resistance. It's hard to put up with the uneven treatment - and if you have no role models of women who have made it, an people at the top don't believe you are fully dedicated, why would you keep trying? Why not follow another path that would be less difficult and just as fulfilling?
Marisa Drew
Managing Director, Co-Head EMEA Investment Banking and Capital Markets,Credit Suisse
When a young woman hits a hard point in her career, if she looks up and does not see any women at the top, she wonders if she will make it - if all of the sacrifices she will have to make will pay off. That is one key reason why women leave the industry.
Charlotte Hogg
COO,Bank of England
There is a moral imperative in the public sector that drives institutions to reflect the country that they serve, and improve diversity at all levels of the organization. At the Bank of England, we actively promote diversity through a variety of initiatives, which, in addition to setting ourselves challenging targets, have made a real difference. But there is no 'silver bullet' to increase diversity that works for all.
Karen Fang
Managing Director, Head of Americas FICC Sales,Bank of America Merrill Lynch
Our clients are diverse, so we have to be diverse to serve them properly.
Joanne Kellermann
Member of the Board,Single Resolution Board
Especially in an industry that is having a hard time, there is an opportunity to lead the way and be exemplary. There are many opportunities for the sector to reconnect with the public and I really hope that in the next five years we see a big change.
Beth Johnson
Chief Marketing Officer and Head of Consumer Strategy - EVP,Citizens Bank
Sponsors are incredibly important to achieve success. It's not just a mentor but someone who is willing to take risks on you and promote you. In essence, co-linking their career to yours.
Sara Ferrari
Head of Family Office,UBS Global
The culture of organisations needs to change: as long as colleagues start to chit-chat that someone is taking half a day off again when they leave the office at 5pm, people will be very careful about asking for flexible working models.
Millennial woman,
Financial Services Industry
I came into my career in financial services with aspirations to make it to the top. But now, five years into it, I am planning my escape.
Director,
European supervisory body
What really matters with flexible working policies is what happens in practice, not what HR and other departments have on paper, but how this works in the long term.
Nicky Newton-King
CEO,Johannesburg Stock Exchange
We go out specifically to hire people who are different to the teams we have. If we have a team of all white males, we won't hire another white male. There is an element of social engineering in this but what diversity brings you is worth the engineering.
Diana Reid
EVP and Head of PNC Real Estate,PNC Financial Services Group
The millennials are a very large generation. They will change the world. Current leaders need to embrace the change.
Aimee Horowitz
Global Director Talent Strategy and Inclusion,Oliver Wyman
Society's progress on gender diversity has been glacially slow. Yet, sadly, we could say the same for many other dimensions of diversity. At Oliver Wyman, we're focused on evolving our workplace to one in which all colleagues feel they belong and that their unique differences, gender or others, are valued. This means ensuring that we are curious, courageous, compassionate, and collaborative with one another; and so far, it is having a profound impact.
Monica Lopez-Monis Gallego
Group Chief Compliance Officer,Banco Santander S.A.
Organizations need to offer women an opportunity to build their career, and society as a whole needs to offer women the support to stay there
Klaus-Peter Müller
Chairman of the Supervisory Board,Commerzbank
Men are still a large part of the problem. It is a pity how many capable women are married to men who do not support their wives in their career.
Shuang Huang
Director,Lufax
Fintech makes financial services more diverse from a product perspective and brings a greater service orientation. For example, we start from building a deep understanding of the customer behavior, in terms of their online behavior and social media presence. As women have more opportunities to shine in these areas, this could positively influence the representation of women in senior roles.
Sergio P. Ermotti
Group CEO,UBS Group AG
There are some road blockers in the Swiss system. The current tax system doesn't help both parents working, and the school system (e.g. childcare and day school) is left almost entirely to the families. I do not believe that any of this is a reason to stop working, but it's a reflection of the societal hurdles we have to overcome.
Shuang Huang
Director,Lufax
Fintech is so fast paced that startups may not have the time to build the support infrastructure to promote gender equality themselves. We should look to build women-in-fintech support groups and mentors at the industry level, and foster a community that actively supports the career aspirations of women.
Alessa Quane
Executive Vice President and Chief Risk Officer,AIG
Despite a lot of effort, most financial services companies are stuck below 25 percent female representation at the top.
Leila Fourie
Director of Post-Trade and Information Services,Johannesburg Stock Exchange
Unspoken rules for success are often created by males and this often creates an unconscious barrier to women.
Allegra van Hövell-Patrizi
CRO,Aegon
We need to think of women from the start, they are not a new segment - an afterthought - they are a core segment. A simple example, many financial brochures come in thick A4 booklets - have you ever tried to fit one in your handbag?
Marieme Esther Dassanou
Global Specialist Women's Access to Finance,International Finance Corporation (IFC)
Everyone thinks that by addressing the needs of the overall low income segment, women will automatically benefit. That has not been the case.
Karin Griffin
Head of Operational Risk,Standard Bank
We should be marketing Risk as a career that supports flexibility.
Ursula Egli
COO,Julius Bär Europe
The German protective maternity system creates a high pressure for women to stay at home during the first years after a child is born - staying at home for so long is detrimental to a career.
Mary Ellen Iskenderian
President and CEO,Women's World Banking
Women tend to be better repayers of loans; they are stickier savers. They may save smaller amounts over a longer period of time, but they tend to keep the money in the bank. And when they take it out, they take it out for large purchases like education, like a large appliance, so they're saving towards a goal.
Laura Liswood
former Managing Director, Goldman Sachs and Secretary General,Council of Women World Leaders
Young women come into the industry thinking there will be no problems, but five years into their career, the gender-based obstacles start
Thomas DeLuca
CEO,AMP Credit Technology
What we need are neatly defined pilots to show shareholders that there are valuable KPIs. A strong government or CEO needs to take the leap of faith to light the path for others.
Leila Fourie
Director of Post-Trade and Information Services,Johannesburg Stock Exchange
Risks and crises do not unfold in a predictable way - we need diverse thinkers to mark out potential risks and to think creatively about how to reduce these proactively. Balancing gender increases the diversity required in effective problem solving. Diversity reduces group think, unlocks innovation and new ways of doing things.
Audra Paton
Independent Risk Director,ICE Clear Europe
In the past when attitudes were a little more old-fashioned, women were reluctant to challenge their male colleagues, but being a woman in the corporate world today is an exciting time to confidently share ideas and be part of a dialogue that adds value.
Jenn LaClair
Chief Financial Officer,PNC Businesses
Today, you cannot get enough talent from one demographic pool, so banks that do a good job at diversity and inclusion will win because they will have better talent. Talent comes from so many diverse sources, to be successful all of them need to be tapped.
Joanna Hill
Director - Market Intelligence, Data and Analysis Division,Financial Conduct Authority
Organizations need to embrace the pioneers who are willing to trial new flexible working styles and highlight those opportunities. Until you start visibly supporting and rewarding these pioneering leaders, you'll never really embed new cultures.
Sally Nelson
Chief Administrative Officer,Fidelity International
It's an attraction issue that we face. Few graduates understand what the asset management industry does; they are much better informed about investment banking, for example. Those who are interested typically self-select into the industry at an early stage of their university education - and unfortunately we don't see many female graduates applying for buy-side roles. This is also related to their degree subjects - we would like to recruit more liberal arts students, not just those in science or finance-related degrees, but few apply from broader disciplines.
Nicky Newton-King
CEO,Johannesburg Stock Exchange
Culture matters, but it is transient and it is something that is built by the leadership and by demonstrated action.