SECURING THE FUTURE OF THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY THROUGH
IMPROVED GENDER DIVERSITYKRISTINA KÄMPFER, DPHIL (PHD) CANDIDATEPROFESSOR DARIUSZ WÓJCIKSCHOOL OF GEOGRAPHY AND THE ENVIRONMENT, UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD

PUBLICATION DATE: 13 AUGUST 2020

SWIFT INSTITUTE REFERENCE: 2019-002
The views and opinions expressed in this paper are those of the authors. SWIFT and theSWIFT Institute have not made any editorial review of this paper, therefore the views andopinions do not necessarily reflect those of either SWIFT or the SWIFT Institute.

1

Table of Contents
Acknowledgements...................................................................................................................... 5
Abstract ....................................................................................................................................... 6
Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 7
I. Theoretical Foundations .......................................................................................................... 10

Literature Review .................................................................................................................10
Theoretical Framework ........................................................................................................11
II. Methodology ......................................................................................................................... 14

Research Sites ......................................................................................................................14
Content Analysis...................................................................................................................14
Exploratory Study .................................................................................................................15
Limitations............................................................................................................................16
III. Content Analysis: An Overview of Gender Equality Initiatives in the British and German FinanceIndustry ..................................................................................................................................... 18

Government- and Industry-Level..........................................................................................18
Company-Level .....................................................................................................................20
Discussion .............................................................................................................................22
IV. Exploratory Study of the German and British Finance Industry: An Evaluation of In-DepthInterviews with Key Internal and External Stakeholders .............................................................. 25

Attractiveness and Competitiveness of Financial Services (Employer Perspective) ............25
Gender Diversity in Senior Management: Mature and Less Mature Practices....................27
Findings ............................................................................................................................27
Discussion .........................................................................................................................36
Conclusion and Recommendations ............................................................................................. 44
References ................................................................................................................................. 49
Appendix A. Samples and Sampling Procedure (Content Analysis) ............................................... 52
Appendix B. A Note on Elite Interviews ....................................................................................... 53
Appendix C. Sample and Sampling Procedure (Exploratory Study) ............................................... 54
Appendix D. Questions on Socio-Economic Status........................................................................ 55
Appendix E. Socio-Economic Background of Interview Partners ................................................... 56
Appendix F. Questionnaire for Internal Stakeholders (HR and Top Management) ........................ 57
Appendix G. Questionnaire for External Stakeholders (Executive Search Firms) ............................ 59
Appendix H. Questionnaire for External Stakeholders (Diversity Specialists) ................................ 61
Appendix I. Gender Equality Initiatives of British Banks, Asset Managers and Insurers ................. 62
Appendix J. Gender Equality Initiatives of German Banks, Asset Managers and Insurers .............. 68
Appendix K. Overview of Gender Equality Initiatives of the 10 Largest Banks in London ............... 69

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List of Figures
Figure 1: Representation of women in senior and executive management of financial companies in
the UK and Germany ............................................................................................................................... 8
Figure 2: Academic publications on gender and finance since 1992 (total number per year displayed
on top of bars)....................................................................................................................................... 10
Figure 3: Publications filtered by ten largest research areas (total number of studies per researcharea displayed in line below research area name) ............................................................................... 11
Figure 4: Analytical dimensions of the study ........................................................................................ 16
Figure 5: Overview of UK government-led initiatives on diversity from 2009 to 2017 (text in boldhighlights those focussing on finance).................................................................................................. 19
Figure 6: Typology of gender equality initiatives in finance ................................................................. 21
Figure 7: Keyword analysis of annual reports divided by sub-sector (average number of words
displayed) .............................................................................................................................................. 22
Figure 8: Gender diversity in British and German financial companies, divided by sector (numbers
depict average percentages)................................................................................................................. 23
Figure 9: In-company barriers to greater gender diversity (internal perspective) ............................... 29
Figure 10: Gender-related obstacles in the appointment process according to responses by Londonand Frankfurt-based ESFs ..................................................................................................................... 31
Figure 11: In-company gender diversity programmes (internal perspective) ...................................... 32
Figure 12: Best practices promoting greater gender diversity, London-based ESFs (external
perspective) .......................................................................................................................................... 34
Figure 13: Best practices promoting greater gender diversity, Frankfurt-based ESFs (external
perspective) .......................................................................................................................................... 35
Figure 14: Socio-economic background of interview partners ............................................................. 56
Figure 15: Educational background of interview partners ................................................................... 56

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List of Tables
Table 1: Overview of interviews with key stakeholders (internal and external) .................................. 15
Table 2: Overview of women's campaigns and networks in finance .................................................... 20
Table 3: Nationality (defined by location of headquarters) of companies of interview partners ........ 54
Table 4: Overview of acquisition process via cold-emailing in Germany and the UK........................... 544

Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank the SWIFT Institute for funding this research. We express particular
thanks to Nancy Murphy and Peter Ware for their support and expertise throughout thisproject. We are also very grateful for the various comments and feedback we have received
throughout different stages of this research.
Dariusz Wójcik has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under theEuropean Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement
number 681337). The article reflects only the authors’ views and the ERC is not responsible
for any use that may be made of the information it contains.
As the paper is based on interviews with professionals working in the financial services
industry, we express special thanks to our interview partners for sharing their precious time
and thoughts with us.

Authors & Contact
Kristina Kämpfer, DPhil (PhD) Candidate
Professor Dariusz Wójcik
School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford
Email addresses:
kristina.kampfer@wadham.ox.ac.uk (K. Kämpfer)
dariusz.wojcik@ouce.ox.ac.uk (D. Wójcik)

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Abstract
Unlike any of its predecessors, the 2007 – 2009 financial crisis drew attention to the lack ofdiversity at the top of the finance industry. In particular, it ignited the debate on whether
greater gender diversity could have impacted the course of events surrounding or evenprevented the crisis. However, despite empirical evidence for a business case in (leadership)
diversity as well as regulatory pressure, for example by the UK government, financial services
continues to be an industry that is governed almost exclusively by an elite, male minority. Theinterdisciplinary approach adopted in this paper seeks to move beyond the business case logic
by combining insights from financial geography and feminist theory. This paper unpacks work
cultures and practices in the financial centres of London and Frankfurt. Exploring theinstitutional and cultural setting in which financial companies operate, we seek to answer thequestion of how (gender) diversity can become core to business in finance from a newperspective. The analysis is based upon a desk-based review of diversity policies of financial
companies as well as data collected through 52 semi-structured interviews with external andinternal stakeholders in the financial centres of Germany and the United Kingdom. It showsthat support from senior management is key to greater diversity, whereas the culture of anorganisation is perceived as the biggest obstacle. Culture, and thus diversity, is dependent
upon context. The comparative study of London and Frankfurt reveals that understandings
and practices of diversity are highly location-dependant. Despite being a heavily
interconnected industry, the research shows that financial services itself are moregeographically diverse than assumed. Hence, cultural as well as institutional variations arecentral to understanding the progress – or lack thereof – of diversity within financial
companies in different geographies. This has implications for the competitiveness of financial
centres and make-up of financial elites. Financial companies that strive for greater diversity
and for which elite labour is a key resource need to pay particular attention to the culturaland institutional framework, within which they are embedded and operate.

6

Introduction
In August 2009, the immediate aftermath of the 2007 – 2009 financial crisis, the Treasury
Committee of the UK Parliament launched its first ‘Women in the City’ inquiry and facilitated
two hearings that same year (a second ‘Women in finance’ inquiry followed in 2017). A reportordered by the House of Commons concluded that“[w]hile it is impossible to know whether more female board members would havelessened the impact of the financial crisis, the arguments for fairness, improved
corporate governance, a stronger challenge function and not wasting a large
proportion of talent seem more than sufficient to conclude that increased gender
diversity is desirable.” (House of Commons 2010: 14)
Whereas the Treasury Committee eschewed to enter into a debate about what is often
referred to as the Lehman-Sisters-Hypothesis 1, i.e. the question whether greater gender
diversity could have impacted the course of events surrounding or even prevented the 2007
– 2009 crisis, the inquiry marked the beginning of a series of efforts undertaken by the UK
government (as well as the British financial services industry) to investigate and – at least inparts – address the risk culture and the lack of diversity in finance. Exploring the institutionaland cultural context, in which financial centres as well as companies are embedded, opens up
a different perspective on the puzzling situation that despite the empirically verified businesscase for diversity 2, finance continues to be an industry that is governed almost exclusively byan elite minority. Numbers demonstrate this underrepresentation of women robustly, as
illustrated in Figure 1. In 2016, women compromised only 14% of Executive Committees in
Financial Services in the UK. The lack of gender diversity is even greater in Germany, where
women accounted for only 9% of Management Boards in 2017.

1 See, for example, Prügl 2012, Nelson 2013, and van Staveren 2014.
2 A series of company studies, most notably by the consultancy McKinsey (see Desvaux/ Devillard-

Hoellinger/ Baumgarten 2007 for one of the first of this kind and Desvaux et al 2017 for the ten-yearanniversary edition), made the case for capitalizing on gender diversity to drive company performance.

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50%

14%
9%

Equal Representation of
Women

Women on Executive
Committees in Financial
Services (UK), 2016

Women on Management
Boards of Financial
Companies (Germany), 2017

Figure 1: Representation of women in senior and executive management of financial companies in the UK and
Germany 3This paper seeks to answer the question that matters most to practitioners: How can (gender)
diversity become core to business in finance, i.e. how can more women be attracted to theindustry and promoted to leadership positions within it? By interviewing key internal andexternal stakeholders in financial services, the findings presented here are based upon thecase studies of the British and German finance industry. The research presented addresses
four objectives:
1. To offer an overview of what the financial industry is currently doing to attract andpromote women into senior and executive management positions.
2. To explore what can make finance an industry attractive for qualified female talents.
3. To identify conditions under which women succeed as well as fail to reach senior andexecutive positions in finance, paying particular attention to promotion gaps.
4. To derive recommendations for best practices on how finance can attract andpromote women better into senior and executive management positions.
The theoretical framework offered by combining economic geography with gender andcultural studies enables us to account for factors that are usually neglected, in particular instudies from business management which dominate the research on this topic. Seeking tounderstand better what prevents women from reaching senior management demands toapproach the question outside the business logic within which this usually operates. This
complicates the picture, but they simultaneously allow for a more nuanced understanding of
the problem. The interdisciplinary background of our study informs both the assumptions andconceptual framework underpinning our project as well as the methods we use. The choice
to conduct research in different geographies was derived from the assumption that cultural
as well as institutional variations are one of the keys to understanding the progress – or lackthereof – of gender diversity within financial companies. Diversity itself encompasses morethan gender and, as it intersects inevitably with other dimensions, i.e. race or class/ socioeconomic background, we think of gender diversity as multidimensional and being depended
upon context. Thus, the emphasis on gender diversity represents the starting point of our
3 Sources: HM Treasury/ Virgin Money 2016 and German Institute for Economic Research 2018.

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study which we not only tease apart theoretically in the next chapter but also use as analyticallens to document the differences between the countries and cities we investigate. Our
empirical findings demonstrate the complexity of diversity across the different geographies.
The research was conducted between January and October 2019, in two main stages. The
first stage consisted of a desk-based review of gender equality initiatives of British andGerman financial companies. The second stage consisted of 52 semi-structured, in-depth
interviews with four groups of internal and external stakeholders in London, United Kingdom,
and in several German cities, primarily Frankfurt. These interviews were supplemented withdata collected on barriers for women/ gender-related obstacles as well as gender equality
initiatives/ best practices.
The report is structured as follows: Chapter 1 provides a review of literature on gender(diversity) in finance. Chapter 2 details the methodology of the study. Chapter 3 offers an
overview of gender equality initiatives in Germany and the United Kingdom, including acontent analysis that focuses on differences and similarities between countries as well as
sectors. Chapter 4 presents the findings from an exploratory study. We conclude the reportby summarising key results of our study and deriving recommendations.

9I. Theoretical Foundations
Literature Review
The research on women’s work experience as well as gender diversity in finance is still
nascent. Only a limited number of studies focus strictly on women (and not gender or
masculinity) in finance. As Figure 2 shows, research on this topic first emerged in significant
numbers in the early 1990s. Publications almost doubled around the crisis (from 168 in 2006
to 316 in 2010) and have grown steadily ever since, with a sharp increase in the last five years
from 517 in 2014 to 1101 in 2018.
1101
1026
952
839

422
278
57 59 67 79 66 81

112118129136121139133

169168321316

471

517

369

211

Figure 2: Academic publications on gender and finance since 1992 (total number per year displayed on top ofbars) 4

Scrutinizing the sources of research on this topic, Figure 3 shows that studies from businesseconomics, social sciences and women’s studies dominate the academic literature. Businesseconomics provides the lion’s share (4611 out of 8642 results). Many studies within this field
engage with the business case for diversity. Diversity is primarily investigated for its impact
on the financial performance and the reputation of a company 5, but also driven by humancapital considerations and a more customer-centric approach (cf. Doldor et al 2012: iii).
Existing literature offers mixed results regarding the (dis)advantages of workforce diversity,
4 The following data stems from a systematic search conducted on 4th March 2019 on Web of Science,using a combination of keywords (We searched for TOPIC using the following key words: (wom*en
AND financ*) OR (wom*n AND bank*) OR (wom*n AND financ* AND cris*s) OR (gender AND financ*)
OR (gender AND bank*) OR (diversity AND financ*) OR (diversity AND bank*) OR (equality AND
financ*) OR (equality AND bank*) OR (masculinity AND financ*) OR (masculinity AND bank*) OR(feminism AND financ*) OR (feminism AND bank*) OR (femininity AND financ*) OR (femininity AND
bank*). Furthermore, we refined our search from the 100 most popular categories and limited it to
Economics, Management, Business, Business Finance, Sociology, Women’s Studies, Social Sciences
Interdisciplinary, Political Science, Law, History, Geography, Social Issues, Regional Urban Planning,
Public Administration, Ethics, Industrial Relations Labor, Anthropology, Area Studies, Urban Studies,International Relations, Neurosciences, Communication.). Our sample included 8.462 results in total(30.409 results were found without any filter).
5 Campbell and Mínguez-Vera refer to this distinction as the split between “ethical and economic” (2008:439) arguments.

10which can be attributed to how diversity and financial performance are measured.6
Comparative in-depth studies investigating the lack of diversity in senior management acrosscompanies or industries in different countries are scarce.

Figure 3: Publications filtered by ten largest research areas (total number of studies per research area displayedin line below research area name)

Theoretical Framework
In order to understand why, despite empirical evidence for the business case, diversity is notcore to business, and consequently how more women can be attracted to the industry andpromoted to leadership positions within it, we chose a conceptual framework that goesbeyond business studies and relies on economic geography in combination with gender andcultural studies. Our theoretical framework rests on the following key concepts:(1) International Financial Centres. Geographers understand international financial
centres (IFCs) as “concentrations of financial organizations and their activities”(Wójcik 2018: 558) and “centres of financial expertise” (ibid: 560). Approaching
London and Frankfurt through this theoretical lens allows us to build upon Sarah Hall’s
finding that “different financial centres will have different cultures” (2018: 97). And inorder to understand these variations better, we view “highly skilled individuals
working in [these] financial centres” (ibid: 21) as one key to gain insight into thesevariations (cf. ibid: 96).
(2) Financial Elites. Elites and the power they possess have been under high scrutiny inthe aftermath of the financial crisis (cf. Engelen et al 2012). Elites can be characterized
as “central to the reproduction of the global economy and the international financial
system in particular” (Hall 2018: 95). Research on their transnational mobility between
different financial centres, which insinuates a uniform culture of finance that
6 In the studies we reviewed, the Shannon index as well as the Blau index were commonly used diversity
indices. Financial performance was mostly measured as Tobin’s Q, ROI or ROA.

11

transcends geographies, is of particular interest to our project (cf. Beaverstock 2005).
Gender resembles a “key factor in understanding the (re)production of elite financial
subjectivities” (Hall 2018: 104), which sums up the logic that underpins our decision
to choose gender as the starting point of our research without neglecting otherdimensions of diversity.
(3) Work Cultures and Practices. Work cultures can be defined as “taken-for-granted
assumptions shaped by both firms and financial centres that define what legitimate
forms of working activities, knowledge practices and interpersonal relations are in any
given working context” (Hall 2018: 100). Practices, in turn, can be understood as“micro-social activities [...] carried out and performed by people living, labouring, andcreating in the everyday economy” (Jones/ Murphy 2010: 376). This means on the one
hand that the economy is embedded in society and thus that economic practices arealways social practices. On the other hand, such a practice-centre approach 7 rests
upon the assumption – and simultaneously concludes – “that in order to understandwhat and why people do what they do, we need to understand these broader
relationships” (Reid/ Ellsworth-Krebs 2019:) 302, i.e. the context in which individuals
operate.
(4) External Stakeholders. Despite the central role Executive Search Firms (ESFs) 8 assume
in the process of selection and appointment of candidates for senior roles (cf.
Faulconbridge et al 2009), research on them is scarce. Even fewer studies on (gender)
diversity and executive search exist to date (cf. Doldor et al 2012 and FernandezMateo/ Fernandez 2012). Monika Hamori emphasizes the formative power ESFs hold– they “constrain executive career moves, structure labor markets, and determine
both short-term and longer term career outcomes” (2010: 57). Jonathan Beaverstock,
James Faulconbridge and Sarah Hall stress that ESFs had to “educate corporate clientsin new geographical markets into the value of employing head-hunters, rather thansimply being able to respond to already existing demand” (2010: 830 – 831). ESFs thus
play a central role in elite labour markets and are an important part of the puzzle thatis the lack of senior women in top management in financial services.
(5) Gendered Organisations. Developing a “systematic theory of gender andorganizations” (1990: 140), Joan Acker was among the first to demonstrate howorganisations themselves are gendered (cf. ibid: 145 – 147), challenging theassumption that “[o]rganizational logic” (ibid: 147) is “gender neutral” (ibid). In a more
recent account, Acker revises her theory by integrating the concept ofintersectionality. Developing the notion of inequality regimes, which are present in allorganizations (cf. 2006: 443), she defines these regimes as “interrelated practices,
processes, actions and meanings that result in and maintain class, gender, and racialinequalities within particular organizations” (ibid). Change within organisation, Acker
contends, “is difficult and change efforts often fail” (ibid: 445) as “[a]dvantage is hardto give up” (ibid).
(6) Organisational Culture. Studying men and women working in the City of London in
the late 1980s and early 1990s, Linda McDowell’s Capital Culture is formative for ourdecision to put an emphasis on cultural variations. McDowell argues that
7 See Reid and Ellsworth-Krebs for an overview of the development of practice theory (cf. 2019: 300 –303).
8 We follow other researchers in this field and use the terms executive search firms and head-hunters
interchangeably (cf. Beaverstock/ Faulconbridge/ Hall 2010).

12

“occupational sex stereotyping and the institutional and everyday structures of
workplace interaction” (1997: 204) contribute to an inequality in the workplace inwhich “City women [are constructed] as different” (ibid) and “men […] retain[] their
old hegemonic dominance” (ibid). Disclosing the gender performances, which areaccepted/ appropriate and not accepted/ appropriate, she shows that “the cultural
construction of the banking world remains elitist and masculinist” (ibid: 207), alluding
to the important intersection of class and gender in the British case.
(7) Performance and Formation of Gender (Stereotypes). Research from gender andcultural studies was instrumental in debunking gender as something given but insteaddemonstrating how it is (per)formed and based upon power structures (cf. Butler
1990). A small number of studies explored the performance and formation of gender(stereotypes) in finance. Whereas the majority of such accounts focus on masculinity(see, for example, Connell 2012), only selected works include or focus in particular on
women in finance (cf. Roth 2006, Ho 2009, Fisher 2012, and Hall 2017).
(8) (A Spatial Understanding of) Intersectionality. Intersectionality emerged as key
concept within feminist and women’s studies in the past thirty years (for a genealogy
of intersectionality, see Cho/ Crenshaw/ McCall 2013). We follow Leslie McCall in her
reading of intersectionality as driven by a notion “that completely reject[s] theseparability of analytical and identity categories” (2006: 1771). Deploying anintersectional approach also allows us to marry together economic geography andgender as well as cultural studies for the conceptual framework of this. Already in
1998, Andrew Jones argued “theorizing gender through a spatially aware
epistemology, more powerful theories of exclusion and discriminatory practices canbe produced“ (453). Other geographers demonstrated seconded this spatial readingof intersectionality. Linda McDowell emphasizes how “gender […] is mutuallyconstructed through a range of social relations including in the workplace and thehome” (McDowell 2016: 2093). Adopting an intersectional approach also means to
acknowledge that when we speak about gender diversity in this paper we focus onelite women and neglect a large share of invisible (in particular care) work done byother women that enables women (as well as men) to establish careers in finance (cf.
McDowell 2014: 830f.). In addition, and because of the emphasis placed on theinstitutional and cultural context in this research project, our case studies show that
understandings of gender, class and race depend upon “specific sociohistorical,
cultural and economic conditions” (Knapp 2005: 259). Thus, as much as these relations
permeate both societies we study, the way in which they act as markers and what
they stand for differs in our case studies.

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II. Methodology
Research Sites
London and Frankfurt were chosen as our research sites. They represent two international
financial centres (IFCs) embedded within distinct cultural, political and financial systems.
London clearly features in past comparisons as a “more important world city” (Beaverstock/
Hoyler/ Pain/ Taylor 2001: 4) than Frankfurt. Whether recent developments like Brexit willaffect the relationship between both cities as well their importance as IFCs remains to be
explored (cf. Cassis and Wójcik 2018). To start with, Frankfurt is simply much smaller in termsof workforce, with 75,000 people employed in financial services compared to more than
400,000 employees in London 9 (cf. Bischoff 2018: 22 – 24). Additionally, the German financial
system can be characterized as rather decentralised with big banks (particularly investmentbanks) located primarily in Frankfurt, with Munich as the leading centre of insurance andasset management, and a strong presence of regional and local banks and financial
institutions throughout the country (cf. Wójcik/ MacDonald-Korth 2015). Reflecting on thesedifferences, our research was designed in such a way as to allow us to study whether and how
these variations affect the object under investigation, i.e. the understandings and practices
related to diversity. It makes our research challenging but worthwhile as we are able toexplore which factors drive or obstruct gender diversity. These include the role of the cultural
as well as institutional settings in an industry that is heavily interconnected but might be more
spatially variegated, i.e. geographically diverse, than assumed.
Content Analysis
We used a representative sample from Thomson Reuters as well as a sample of the ten largest
banks in London for the content analysis (see Appendix A for further information on thesamples and sampling procedure). We relied on textual evidence from publicly available
material on diversity and inclusion 10 that we retrieved through an extensive keyword research
online 11. As our goal was to systematically review and reduce the vast data available (cf.
Schreier 2013), we chose to deploy a content analysis. Adopting an inductive approach (cf.
Mayring 2000), we developed categories and analysed the material by concentrating on key
characteristics (cf. Coffey 2013). The scope of our analysis was to look primarily for initiatives
fostering gender equality. Hence, we did not include efforts that aimed to foster diversity
beyond gender, although such efforts are interrelated and can hardly be separated, or if
companies vowed to hire or promote more women but did not state concrete policies ormeans by which to achieve these aims. In addition to in-company initiatives, we checked forexternal partnerships, namely the three prominent ones in the UK and Germany (Women in
Finance Charter, 30% Club and Charta der Vielfalt 12). We also included flexible working
policies and support offered to parents (e.g. coaching).
9 Numbers from 2015.
10 Annual Reports, Gender Pay Gap and Women in Finance Charter Reports as well as information on

Diversity & Inclusion Policies available on company websites were the main sources.
11 Using the terms ‘diversity’, ‘gender pay gap reporting’ as well as ‘women in finance charter reporting’in conjunction with the respective financial organisation.
12 This Charter of Diversity is a voluntary agreement companies can sign. It does not target women
exclusively like the Women in Finance Charter or the 30% Club but in lieu of a comparative industry- or
government-led campaign in Germany, we chose to include the Charter of Diversity in our analysis.

14

Exploratory Study
The exploratory study is based on qualitative evidence collected through semi-structured
interviews with members of the financial elite working in the UK (primarily London) andGermany. A brief overview of what is particular about elite interviewing is provided inAppendix B. The data collection took place over a six-month period from May to October
2019. In total, we conducted 52 interviews 13 and spoke to four groups of stakeholders:members of the top management 14 and HR 15 (internal) as well as diversity specialists andexecutive search firms (external). Table 1 depicts how these are represented in our sample(overall as well as divided by country and sector). Appendix C provides further details on thesample as well as the sampling procedure.
Table 1: Overview of interviews with key stakeholders (internal and external)

Financial centre/
country
London (n = 22)
Germany (n = 30)

Internal (n = 30)(asset managers, banks, and insurers)
Top
Human Resources
Management
6
9

5
12

External (n = 22)
ESFs/ Recruiters

Diversity
Specialists
9
9

2
2

NB: Numbers refer to interviews (not individual interviewees as some interviews featured a number of e.g. members of HR) per stakeholder
group. Furthermore, two interviews in Germany were conducted with a member of top management and HR in conjunction, which is why
we conducted 30 (and not 32) interviews in sum.

We were adamant to reach out to a diversity of possible interview partners, which limits therepresentativeness of the sample as finance as an industry lacks diversity. Women seemed tobe more likely to speak to us for our research: 62,5% (37,5 %) of our interview partners werefemale (male), although we approached an equal number of both women and men.16 In afollow-up to the interviews, we send our interview partners a set of questions relating to theirsocio-economic status. This is detailed in Appendix D. 34 respondents (60,7 % of the sample)
completed and returned the survey. Appendix E presents the results of the analysis of thisdata.
Each interview lasted between 30 to 70 minutes. The interviews were either conducted via
phone (n = 18) or took place in the offices (n = 34) of our interview partners. With the
exception of three cases, all interviews were recorded and transcribed, consequently
removing any person- or company-specific details. Apart from five cases (primarily members
13 With a few exceptions, the majority of interviews was conducted 1:1. We are aware that interview

situations in which peers or (in-line) managers were present potentially biased the responses as
respondents could have felt more reluctant to share their opinion or agree with their in-line manager.
14 These were either to (1) chairmen or chairwoman or members of the board responsible for either (2)Human Resources or (3) Strategy (Chief Operating Officers).
15 Interview partners were either working in or as leads of the HR departments of financial companies
or as equal opportunities/ diversity/ inclusion officers of the respective financial company.
16 We can only speculate as to why women were more inclined to respond positively to our interview
request. They might feel more confident than men to speak on the subject matter, as they – working in
the industry as a woman – might have encountered discrimination throughout their career. Additionally,
our interviews might provide them with a safe space in which their experiences are not challenged.

15

of top management), the interview partners did not receive the questionnaire in advance butwere presented with it in person in the interview. As part of the interviews, the majority of
our respondents 17 also completed a questionnaire, which was set up as a mini-survey on
barriers and gender equality initiatives in banks, asset managers and insurers or, in the caseof executive search firms, on gender-specific barriers and good practices in the appointment
process. 18 See Appendix F for the questionnaire used for internal stakeholders (i.e. membersof top management and HR in banks, asset managers and insurers), Appendix G thequestionnaire used for executive search firms and Appendix H for the questionnaire used fordiversity specialists. If time constraints forced us to ask fewer questions, we focused on theset of questions relating to the financial crisis and gender equality initiatives/ appointment
processes. Interviews in the UK were conducted in English and interviews in Germany wereconducted in German. German quotes were translated and the original quotes are suppliedin a corresponding footnote. Interview data were analysed looking for common responses toour questions and themes as well as clusters of information related to barriers/ genderrelated obstacles as well as gender equality initiatives/ best practices for greater gender
diversity by comparing the different analytical dimensions of the study (see Figure 4).
Sectors(banks/ asset managers/ insurers)

Perspectives(internal/
external)

Countries(UK/ Germany)

Positions(Top management/ HR)
Figure 4: Analytical dimensions of the study

Limitations
A few limitations of this study need to be addressed. First, this is not a study on theeffectiveness of gender equality initiatives. Instead, we investigated the cultural andinstitutional framework within which financial companies operate in order to understand the
17 We chose to not include the surveys on barriers and initiatives in the interviews conducted withdiversity specialists and instead asked them to list the five most important (useful) barriers (initiatives).
In this way, their responses could then be used as control variables.
18 These mini-surveys were based upon two different sources (for ESFs: Doldor et al 2012: 10 – 12 and
68 – 70; for internal stakeholders: Women in Finance survey conducted by FN London, see
https://www.fnlondon.com/articles/fns-women-in-finance-survey-2017-20170721).

16

lack of diversity in finance better and, on the back of these findings, learn from best practices
in the industry as well as develop recommendations. Secondly, the groups of internal
stakeholders in this study are limited to members of top management and HR. In particular
the perspective of middle managers (as well as other employees from different parts of thebusiness) is missing and could provide further insights into in-company dynamics our analysis
cannot account for. Thirdly, we have to acknowledge the much lower response and approvalrate amongst male as well as London-based interview partners. On the one hand, this impacts
the comparability of the samples in London in Frankfurt. On the other hand, critics may
adduce that our sample is not representative for the industry as a whole as it includes more
female than male interviewees. We cannot discard this valid objection but argue that it serves
the feminist impetus underlying this paper, i.e. to uncover women’s voices.

17III. Content Analysis: An Overview of Gender Equality Initiatives in the British and German
Finance Industry
This overview of gender equality initiatives responds to our first research objective andreviews what the finance industry is doing to improve gender diversity in senior and executive
management positions. It is based upon information on such initiatives made publicly
available by Germany- and UK-based companies. In addition to this firm-level perspective, weoffer a summary of industry- as well as government-led initiatives in both countries as thisdetermines the context within which businesses operate.
Government- and Industry-Level
To date, no concerted government-led effort targeting the lack of gender diversity in thefinancial sector in particular exists in Germany. The UK government, on the other hand,
conducted two investigations on women in finance, the first one in the immediate aftermathof the crisis in 2009 and another in 2017 (cf. House of Commons 2018), and introduced anumber of initiatives, for example the HM Treasury Women in Finance Charter in March 2016.
By signing this Charter, companies commit to a set of actions, including targets for women’s
representation in senior leadership.19 In addition, the government launched theParliamentary Commission on Banking Standards in 2013, which led to the creation of the
Banking Standards Board (BSB) two years later. Figure 5 provides an overview of major
government-led initiatives on greater gender diversity. It includes those that target greater
gender diversity in the overall workforce and not only finance, i.e. the Voluntary Search
Code 20 that had been signed by 39 ESFs as of November 2017 21.

19

See
HM
Treasury
WomeninFinance
Charter(available
online:https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/51
9620/women_in_finance_charter.pdf).
20 See The Standard Voluntary Code of Conduct for Executive Search Firms (available online:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/65
9381/VOLUNTARY_CODE_OF_CONDUCT_FOR_SEARCH_FIRMS_NOVEMBER_2017.pdf).
21 See Signatories to the Voluntary Code of Conduct November 2017 (available online:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/65
8227/Signatories_to_the_Voluntary_Code_of_Conduct_November_2017.pdf).

18

2009:'Women in
the City'inquiry led
by theTreasury
Committee
and Walker
Review on
Corporate
Governance2014:
Launch ofVoluntary
Code of
Conduct for
ESFs

2010 - 2015:
Women On
Board
Daviesreviews

2010: FRC
includesprinciple ofdiversity in
Coprorate
GovernanceCode2013: The
Parliamentary
Commission
on Banking
Standards

2017:
Gender Pay
Gap
Reportingand'Women in
finance'inquiry led
by theTreasury
Committee

2016:
Women
in
Finance
Charter

2015:
BankingStandards
Board
founded2016 2018:
AlexanderHampton
reviews

Figure 5: Overview of UK government-led initiatives on diversity from 2009 to 2017 (text in bold highlights those focussing on finance)

19

Another noticeable difference between both countries is the lack of industry-led initiatives inGermany, and in particular the absence of a German chapter of the 30% Club 22. Table 2
provides an overview of industry campaigns and networks, illustrating this divide between
both countries.
Table 2: Overview of women's campaigns and networks in financeNetworks founded in Germany
Networks founded in the UK

Fondsfrauen
FinTech Ladies Europe
30 % Club
Women in Banking and Finance
Level 20
London Women’s Forum (formerly
City Women’s Club)
City Women Network
We Are The City
CityHive

Reach
European
EuropeanGlobalGlobalEuropean
Local (i.e. only London)
Local
Local
Local

To summarise, the comparison shows that the government as well as the financial services
industry in both countries adopt very different approaches to the problem of lack of gender
diversity in finance. Whereas the UK government launched a series of inquiries and dovetailed
its efforts with a series of reviews, i.e. by Lord Davies and Hampton-Alexander 23, it eschews“legal requirements for boards to contain a particular proportion of women” (House ofCommons 2010: 17). It can (afford to) do so, because industry-led initiatives like the 30% Club
advocate for voluntary agreements instead of quotas. In contrast, the German government
passed a gender quota legislation on 24th April 2015, requiring a minimum of 30% gender
diversity on boards of listed companies from 2016 on. 24 The Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay
Gap Information) Regulations 2017 in the UK has obliged employers with more than 250
employees to report their pay gaps from 6th April 2017 on 25. In contrast theEntgelttransparenzgesetz (Transparency of Remuneration Act) in Germany places the duty toreport on the employee and not the employer.
Company-Level
The companies we studied deployed a variety of gender equality initiatives. These initiatives,
however, share many structural characteristics and we classified into four groups as shown in
Figure 6.

22 The 30% Club was established in 2010 by Helena Morrissey. The campaign advocates for 30% of
women on FTSE 100 boards and recruits CEOS and chairs of businesses as supporters.
23 These investigate the female board representation of the FTSE 100/ 250/ 350 and operate
independently from the government but are linked to other industry-led initiative like the 30% Club.
24 As German companies have two separate boards of directors due to the two-tier system, this quota
only applies to advisory and not management boards.
25 These reports are published by the UK government online and a majority of financial firms publish
these results on their own websites.

20

Initiatives exclusively for women- In-company networks and events (e.g.
conferences) for women- Mentorship & sponsoring programmes

Employee lifecycle initiatives
Policies and practices targeting- Attraction & Recruitment- Retention & Advancement- Return
Company-wide initiatives aimed at creating a more inclusive work culture- Training for leadership/ management or company-wide on unconscious bias and/ or diversity andinclusion (D&I)- Family friendly policies like paid parental leave and flexible work arrangements
External partnerships- Government- and industry-led initiatives (e.g. the Women in Finance Charter or 30% Club)
Figure 6: Typology of gender equality initiatives in financeAs described in the previous section on Methodology, we worked with two different samples
for the following content analysis. The first contains primarily British and German asset
managers, banks and insurers, it stems from Thomson Reuters and is representative of the
British and German finance industry (Appendix I and Appendix J). The second comprises theten largest banks operating in London (Appendix K).
Findings. First, a divide between asset managers, banks and insurers emerges. 26 Most efforts
to improve gender equality are undertaken by banks and insurers in our sample. They are also
primary supporters of industry 27- and government-led initiatives. 28 The lack of genderequality initiative within large parts of the fund industry is in line with recent findings thatshow a severe underrepresentation of women and lack of any kind of diversity in this industry(cf. Sargis/ Pavlenko Lutton 2016, Seddon-Daines/ Chinwala 2018 and The Investment
Association 2019). However, we need to note that this finding is tied to our sample, as arecent study by KPMG on the U.S. alternative investment industry (cf. Asaro/ Rau 2019)sketches a number of initiatives firms are taking (these findings, in turn, are retrieved througha survey). A brief descriptive analysis of the keywords we used to analyse the annual reports
is depicted in Figure 7 and indicates a similar divide between banks, insurers and the fundindustry, in particular so-called “Collective Investments”, providing further evidence to thisfirst finding.

26 As mentioned in Appendix A, TR distinguishes between “Banking”, “Investment Banking & Investment

Services”, “Collective Investments” and “Insurance”. For our analysis, we referred to companies in the
category “Banking” as banks, to companies in the category “Investment Banking & Investment Services”
and “Collective Investments” as fund industry and to companies in the category “Insurance” as insurers.
27 10 out of 20 (50 %) banks signed up to industry-led initiatives to promote more women into senior
positions (as in the case of the British 30% Club) or diversity in the workplace (as in the case of theGerman Charta der Vielfalt). 11 out of the 17 (65 %) insurance companies listed support either the 30%
Club or the Charta der Vielfalt. Only around 16% (i.e. 11 out of 68) of the companies belonging to thefund industry in our sample are named as supporting either of these two initiatives.
28 The Women in Finance Charter has been signed by the majority of banks (12 out of 16, i.e. 75 %)and insurers (11 out of 14, i.e. 79 %). Only 22% (15 out of 68) of the companies we identified as
belonging to the fund industry can be found amongst the signatories.

21

16

Banking & Investment Services

13
12

Insurance

Collective Investments

8
2
0

26

27

5

GenderDiversity

Women

Figure 7: Keyword analysis of annual reports divided by sub-sector (average number of words displayed) 29

Secondly, we compared British and German companies with the exception of the ten largest
banks in London as we study these separately (see next finding). Overall, German companies
offer less programs (primarily networks, mentoring, flexible working and coaching or training
for either women or leadership) and target primarily women. In contrast, British companies
have a wider scope, including unconscious bias trainings as well as returners’ initiatives andprograms that target male employees, too.
Thirdly, and due to our focus on German and British companies, we can only briefly touchupon on the central finding that American investment banks as well as British seem to be – atleast on paper – trailblazers in terms of gender diversity. We rely on a sample of the ten
biggest banks, including major American and Swiss investment banks. Looking at these thequestion arises what (if anything) sets these efforts apart and how can the banks be
characterized? Appendix K provides a detailed overview of the major gender equality
initiatives which look similar at first glance. All banks have women’s networks and flexible
working arrangements. A majority has external partnerships with, for example, industry
initiatives like the 30 % Club, business schools or NGOs (9 out of 10) and formalized programs
targeting women with substantial work experience after a career break (8 out of 10) as well
as formalized parental leave policies in place (8 out of 10). A majority also offers unconscious
bias trainings (7 out of 10) and some sort of career support through training, mentoring,sponsoring or events for women. However, looking at the sheer number as well as the scopeof initiatives offered, we note that the majority of American investment banks as well as
British banks clearly stand out. Overall, only a small minority of these programs include or
target men. Instead, they focus almost exclusively on women. This might actually be
detrimental to diversity efforts, as some of our interview partners noted. We will pick up on
this problem in the final section of this paper.
Discussion
The institutional setting varies greatly between Germany and the UK. Whereas the financial
sector in the UK is dominated by numerous industry- and government-led initiatives that
promote voluntary agreements (in particular the 30% Club and the Women in Finance
Charter), Germany adopted the gender legislation quota in 2015 which aimed to increase
29 The numbers used for this analysis stem from an earlier version of the TR sample we are using forthis content analysis. It included 97 financial companies reporting ESG data on Gender Diversity andoverlaps to large extent with the updated sample from 2019 we use for this analysis.

22female representation on advisory but not on executive boards. We also noticed differences
between different sectors in finance, between asset managers, banks and insurers, as well as
between countries. However, we need to add that very few of the financial companies
provide a comprehensive overview of their gender equality and diversity policies. This might
be because they either have few policies in place or because the topic is still quite new tothem, hence comprehensive policies as well as PR material on them is yet to be developed.
Companies might also eschew to speak about this issue because of the negative publicity
associated with the lack of (gender) diversity in their workforce. A number of banks stand out
due to the considerable quantity and scope of diversity policies deployed. This might create
the impression that they (should) have a diverse workforce and leadership as well as aninclusive company culture. However, numbers illustrating the lack of gender diversity within
financial companies indicate otherwise (see Figures 1 and 8). Hence, another conclusion thatcan be drawn is that these (seemingly) few banks might be simply investing a lot in their PR
strategy and act upon the regulatory pressure of the government in case of the UK.
Additionally, the need to report under the Gender Pay Gap Reporting might prompt
companies with more than 250 employees to promote their diversity policies in the UK, andthis type of peer pressure might be simply missing in the German case.
Our main motivation for using the Thomson Reuters (TR) sample as foundation for thisanalysis was the fact that TR supplies ESG (environmental, social and corporate governance)
data, which includes data on gender diversity. Figure 8 is based on the aggregated data of the
106 companies in our sample, depicting the average percentage of women on boards, offemale executive members and of female employees.

52.9
33.33

52.78

50.7

41.7

42.86

39.5
25.83
22.22

27.56

20
12.5

10

11.11
0

BankingServices (UK)

Females on Board

29.29

27.27

14.58

BankingServices(Germany)

33.33

51

Investment
Banking &Investment
Services(Germany)

Collective
Investment
Investments
Banking &(UK)
Investment
Services (UK)

Female Executive Members

0
Insurance Insurance (UK)(Germany)

Female Employees

Figure 8: Gender diversity in British and German financial companies, divided by sector (numbers depict average
percentages) 30

The higher percentage of female board members in the Germany can be largely attributed to
the gender legislation quota. The lower percentage of female executive members confirms
the pattern depicted in Figure 1 in our introduction, but also demonstrates the complete lackof female executive members in some parts of the industry according to our sample.
30 Source: ESG data provided by Thomson Reuters, retrieved on 15th October 2019.

23

Companies from both samples have an almost equal (as well as similar) percentage of female
employees. The availability of such data would, intuitively, lend itself to a comparison of thedifferent sectors in both countries (asset managers, banks and insurers) and thus of a certain
kind of effectiveness of gender equality measures, i.e. the percentage of female board as well
as executive members. We refrain from doing so for two reasons. First, as very few companies
report such data, such an analysis would not be very representative. The sample on which
Figure 1 is based comprises only 106 financial companies31. Secondly, the data supplied does
not seem to be robust, for example in the case of one (big) German bank, the data on female
executive members did not match the actual number of female executives (our resource wasthe company website). Lastly, it motivates the qualitative approach the next second part ofour study adopts.

31 As a benchmark: TR lists more than 700 publicly listed financial companies in Germany and the UK
before we filtered for ESG data.

24

IV. Exploratory Study of the German and British Finance Industry: An Evaluation of InDepth Interviews with Key Internal and External Stakeholders
The following part of our analysis is based upon data collected through in-depth, semistructured interviews with key stakeholders. It responds to our second and third research
objectives. We explore how financial services as an industry can compete against otherindustries and under which conditions greater gender diversity can be achieved in particular
in senior ranks. This includes excavating existing obstacles.
We remarked upon the debate on the understanding(s) of diversity in the introduction but
will engage with this in further detail in this section. It became evident that the initial scopewith which we entered the field – to focus on gender diversity – was perceived as limiting if
not offensive to a fair amount of interview partners, particularly in London. This indicates thatthe debate on diversity might be more advanced (in the sense that it acknowledges theintersectionality32 of gender) in the UK than in Germany, perhaps also reflecting a morediverse workforce in the British financial services sector. 33 It is most certainly grounded in thefact that class, and hence social mobility, is a much more prominent topic in the UK. The
majority of our interview partners in Germany understood diversity simply in terms of gender.
We explain the repercussions as well as the potential causes for this crucial difference
between the two countries, which we attribute to the institutional and cultural variations aswell as value systems, which manifest themselves in local practices as well as work cultures.
Attractiveness and Competitiveness of Financial Services (Employer Perspective)
In this section, we compare the responses from London-based interview partners to theGerman responses, paying particular attention to the asset management industry anddrawing a link between attractiveness and competitiveness of the industry to (the lack of)diversity.
The majority of respondents in Germany observed a major loss of trust in financial institutions
as well as a loss of reputation of financial professions as a consequence of the 2007 – 2009
financial crisis. Complaining about the out-dated ways of working and thinking in the industry,
one member of the top management based in Frankfurt stated that
‘If we continue the way we do in the future, we will have sunk into insignificance in
10 years.’ 34
Our interview partners in Germany called for moving away from thinking in terms of status,
breaking up of old structures in the industry, for financial companies becoming more agile ingeneral, and more flexible employers in particular. London-based interview partners were
mostly worried about a) the disadvantage of their industry due to being perceived as stuffy
32 We distinguish the term intersectionality from diversity. As detailed in the theoretical part of this paper,

we understand intersectionality as an analytical and critical term. In contrast, diversity as a term is usedin policies or in the business context in terms of harnessing the (productive) potential of differences.
33 In general, we noticed a lack of studies and numbers on diversity beyond gender in finance, inparticular regarding ethnicity and class/ social background.
34 Original quote: “Wenn wir weiter so machen, wie wir bisher weiter machen, dann werden wir in 10
Jahren in der Bedeutungslosigkeit verschwunden sein.“25and male-dominated and b) a lack of understanding of the business model and the corefunction of finance. A series of suggestions on solving the first problem centred around
improving the image of the industry, in particular with regards to breaking with the image ofthe stereotypical (male and white) banker:‘I think […] people have always been attracted to work in the City but have perhaps
been put off because they felt […] they had to be a young, white man who has goneto a particular university. It is upon companies [to show] that this is no longer the
expectation nor the reality. […]’
(Top manager, London)
In addition, our respondents advised to improve the understanding of what the industry doesin general but also in the case of asset management. This referred primarily to the businessmodel, as the second quote by a top manager illustrates, and not so much terms of
employment or working practices.
‘I think we absolutely need to tell the world why finance matters. Finance’s
contribution in terms of enabling growth, enabling, you know providing capital. […][W]e have to remind why this stuff matters. It is basically about empowering theworld what the world needs to do. […] However, […] we don’t present ourselves aswell as we could. Because people […] walking into Canary Wharf middle-aged men ingrey suits.’(Diversity specialist, London)‘But nevertheless, we have to work on improving the image of the industry. We still
have a problem: many people don‘t really understand what it is that we are actually
doing.’(Top manager, London)
Diversity can be perceived as both limiting but also enlarging the talent pool, as we explain in
further detail in the concluding section of this report. For now, it needs to be acknowledgedthat the image of, for example, the ‘young, white man who has gone to a particular university’sketched by one of the top managers we interviewed is connected to whether applying toroles in finance is considered appealing for people from a particular class (or socioeconomic)
background. The following statement by an HR lead illustrates this link between a lack ofunderstanding of the industry and the lack of socio-economic and gender diversity poignantly:‘I used to interview people for the graduate program who would say ‘Yeah my dad
used to read the FT at the breakfast table and he invested on my behalf from anearly age […]’ and invariably those people would be male. […] I guess the otherextreme is people who’ve just never got any sense of the City or access, so there’s a
bit of the old boys’ network, it’s kind of social-economic exclusion and therefore justkind of complete lack of awareness of what the industry might bring.’(HR lead, London)
However, the previous quote, as well as the others in this section, show that it is impossible
to disentangle gender diversity from other aspects of diversity. For example, critics might26

adduce that the outdated-ness of the industry might also be a subject of critique by inparticular young(er) people. In that sense, the conservative image of the industry is alarming
and limits the talent pool not only from a gender perspective.
Whereas the above discussion of findings primarily concerned the competitiveness of theindustry as a whole as well as individual sectors, it shall not be neglected that financial centres
compete amongst each other. Especially in the wake of Brexit this is an aspect that we wish
to at least comment on, although our research did not deliberately point towards thisdevelopment. In the case of diversity, the financial centres we studied vary greatly. This ismirrored in the spatial variegation of financial practices and calls – at least in this particularcase – the global nature of the financial services industry into question. It also equips London
with a certain competitive advantage, as we argue in the next section of this working paper.
London-based asset managers, bankers and insurers deploy a much more nuanced andcomplex understanding of diversity than those in Germany. This is mirrored in the practices
on the ground, and reflects the much more heterogenous workforce (and population of thecountry) of London as well as its strong connection with New York City and the U.S. in general.
Our assessment here, based on comparing experiences from London and Germany, is ofcourse relative. It does not imply that London and the UK is anywhere near solving thechallenges of diversity.
Gender Diversity in Senior Management: Mature and Less Mature Practices
Findings‘It’s all connected to culture. […] When you dig into what you mean by culture, that’s
when you start – it’s like an orange, you start peeling the skin back and actually you
find there’s more to it.’(HR lead, London)
Ultimately, gender equality initiatives and best practices promise little to no success in thewrong culture. Culture drives diversity, rather than any single or sum of (gender) equality
initiatives. If dominated by male values35 and if it does not offer an inclusive work
environment, the culture of an organisation is perceived as the biggest barrier to diversity.
Top management, on the other hand, is seen as the biggest driver of greater gender diversity(and the right culture). An unexpected finding was the heterogeneity of understandings andpractices of diversity in the companies we studied despite the financial industry being deeplyinterconnected and many financial companies operating on a global scale. These seem tomirror both working practices as well as the work force and reflect assumptions held insociety, in particular about the role of women. Our research shows that global financial
centres in the case of London and Frankfurt are deeply connected but simultaneously exhibit
practices that are geographically diverse and shaped by the societies and (financial) systems
in which they are embedded. This is not only interesting with regards to how companies
within these financial centres can position themselves in the so-called ‘war for talent’, but

35 Critics might contest the idea that there is such thing as “male values”. We use this phrase to signify“inequality regimes” which Acker (2006: 443) demonstrates exist in all organisations. See, for example,
Joan Acker, whose research we reviewed in Chapter 1.

27

sparks hope for London in the wake of Brexit and its competitiveness as a financial centre inEurope as highlighted previously.
Highlighting culture as the key to gender diversity has far-reaching implications. Corporate
cultures and practices are themselves embedded within broader society and institutions,hence beliefs about gender roles shape behaviour as well as initiatives on the industry- andgovernment-level. What is needed to achieve greater gender equality are not (only) genderequality initiatives and best practices but also cultural change. Within big financial institutions
like banks this might take up to 25 years or an entire generation. This was also acknowledged
by one of our interview partners:‘[S]till, we are a long way off of a balanced business and it’s going to take I believe ageneration.’(HR lead, London)
In addition, it demands – to a certain degree – systemic change. One top manager was very
critical despite the rising numbers of women in finance and demanded to include women in
all areas of business, alluding to so-called pink ghettos and stereotypes that translate into
women being represented only in certain subjects at school as well as university, and thus incertain professions (i.e. primarily HR and marketing in the case of financial companies):‘You need to have them [women] in the core mainstream, investment banking,commercial banking, retail banking. If they are not leading the business and they’re
doing ancillary things your percentages look great but your outcome, I think, ismaterially not good enough.’(Top manager, London)
Interestingly, we had a few financial companies in our sample who spoke about a culturalchange that occurred in their organisation in the aftermath of the financial crisis. It seemedthat those organisations, as they for example shifted their strategic focus towards
internationality, (gender) diversity was naturally part of that strategic agenda and hence
perceived as less of a problem or disadvantage.
‘We transformed from being a German, white, male company to being aninternational, by all means from different countries and parts of the company, teamand, of course, a big part of this is about gender diversity.’ 36(Top manager, Germany)
Key BarriersInternal Perspective. Organisational Culture is Perceived as the Biggest Hurdle.
Figure 9 depicts the aggregated results on barriers within asset managers, banks andinsurance companies in Germany and the United Kingdom.
36 Original quote: “Wir sind von einer deutschen, weißen, männlichen Company eigentlich jetzt zu einerinternationalen, durchaus aus unterschiedlichen Ländern, Operationen stammenden Team gekommen,und natürlich ist ein großer Schwerpunkt auch in dem Bereich Geschlechterdiversität.“

28

Could you please rate the following barriers to thesuccess of women's careers in their impact fromvery important to not at all important?
(n = 32)

Double glass ceiling

Promotion gaps

(Exclusion from) old boy’s networks

Unconscious bias and double standard due to genderstereotypes

Very important

10

14.5

3

13

5

5.5

9

15

15

2

7

10

10

1

6

Culture of organisations

22

8

Somewhat important

Not very important

Not at all important

1

2

Figure 9: In-company barriers to greater gender diversity (internal perspective) 37

With the exception of two respondents, all of our interview partners in either the UK or
Germany considered organisational culture as the central barrier. This central finding of ourstudy is in line with other research that investigates the success of gender equality initiatives.
For example, in her analysis of a women’s network, Laura Bierema carved out organizational
culture as one of the key factors impacting its success (2005: 220). The challenge, she argues,
lies in “eroding structural inequality and creating atmospheres conducive to women” (ibid:
221). This is not solved by setting up a women’s network, which, she demonstrates, canactually weaken the position of women within an organisation (cf. ibid: 217 – 218). Putting
the finding that culture matters more than a single equality initiative into the wider context
can help to elucidate why companies despite a large number of diversity practices can stilllack progress with diversity (cf. Devillard et al 2012: 13). Furthermore, it corroborates alreadyexisting “evidence suggest[ing] that broader cultural factors (cultural norms and values,
political systems, gender equality trends in the labour market) have an impact not only[on] the proportion of women on Boards, but also on the measures taken to increase it”
37 One respondent preferred to refrain from rating ‘(Exclusion from) old boy’s networks’.

29

(Doldor et al 2012: 12). In particular the British interview partners emphasized the importanceof the ‘right’ culture:‘I think culture is key, but you have to be very clear on the culture and the standards
and what it is you’re aiming for. So, what is acceptable and what is not acceptable?
And you need to hold people to account. So, if you see great behaviour, it’s really
important that you reinforce that. If you see negative behaviour, it’s very importantthat you call it out in the moment and you address it in an appropriate way. You needto set the tone.’(HR lead, London)
In contrast, fewer German interview partners mentioned culture explicitly before being asked
about it as part of the interview. These were mostly companies that either placed a verystrong emphasis on their international business or underwent structural changes, i.e. weremerged or acquired international companies, or adjusted their company strategy:‘This factor [culture] is the decisive one. […] We truly believe that changes in thebusiness can only be achieved if the culture supports them.’ 38(Top manager, Germany)
No remarkable differences emerged when comparing the results from members of HR against
the responses from members of top management. However, different patterns became
visible when juxtaposing German responses in opposition to British responses. Promotion
gaps as well as (the exclusion from) old boy’s networks were rated by the majority of German
respondents as either not very or not at all important (and, in turn, as somewhat or very
important by the majority of British respondents). Similarly, discrimination on the basis of
unconscious bias was perceived as less of a barrier in Germany in contrast to the UK.
External Perspective of Executive Search Firms. The Perception of the Pipeline and Lack of
Qualified Female Talent is the Biggest Gender-Related Obstacle According to ESFs.
ESFs play a crucial role in securing candidates for the senior management teams of theirclients. On the basis of a previous study on the importance of gender equality in theappointment and selection process (Doldor et al 2012), we were interested in exploring how
ESFs perceive this role and how gender factors into the equation according to theirexperience. Additionally, as the majority of these operate across geographies and sectors, wewere particularly interested in uncovering whether they observed any differences between
London and Germany. In line with the barriers within companies we previously presented, we
asked our interview partners working at ESFs to rate a number of gender-related obstacles
that act as barriers to greater gender diversity. Figure 10 depicts the aggregated results fromboth London- and Frankfurt-based head-hunters.

38 Original quote: „Der Faktor [Kultur]

ist der entscheidende. […] Wir glauben, dass wir, wenn wir
Veränderungen auch im geschäftlichen Bereich […] umsetzen wollen, muss das durch die Kultur
getragen werden.“30

Could you please rate the following obstacles to gender
diversity on Boards in their impact from very important to not
at all important?
(n = 17)

Cultural context (i.e. beliefs and values toward
women and work)

Boardroom cultures (i.e. competitive, long hours andold boy’s club)3

Lack of social capital (i.e. relationships and networks)

3

Perceptions of the pipeline and lack of women withexperience

Very important

Somewhat important

6.5

7.5

5

9

10

5.5

Not very important

1

3.5

7.5

6

Board appointment process is too subjective andexclusionary (‘similarity attraction paradigm’)

6.5

6.5

3

1.5

Not at all important

Figure 10: Gender-related obstacles in the appointment process according to responses by London- andFrankfurt-based ESFs

The perceptions of the pipeline and the lack of women with experience is by far the biggest
gender-related obstacle in the appointment process, followed by boardroom cultures and thecultural context as very or somewhat important barriers. These barriers were rated similarly
by respondents and little to no cultural differences or differences in perception can be foundbetween survey data collected in London and Frankfurt. However, this is not the case for thelack of social capital: more than two thirds of respondents in Frankfurt considered this to be
not very important. We can think of two reasons: First, social capital is de facto not an
obstacle to women’s careers in the German context. Secondly, our study is potentially notdesigned in a way to capture this dimension as we interviewed head-hunters but not female
candidates. Hence, candidates might experience a lack of social capital as an obstacle but
head-hunters might not perceive this as a barrier.
Key Initiatives
Internal Perspective. The Support from Senior Executives is Considered Key to Greater Gender
Diversity.

31

Figures 11 depicts the aggregated results on gender initiatives within asset managers, banks
and insurers in Germany and the United Kingdom.

Could you please rate the following diversity
programmes in their usefulness for women's
careers from very useful to not at all useful?
(n = 32)

More flexible work arrangements

20

8

2 1

Presence of female role models

21

8

3

Greater transparency on promotion policies

Increased pay and greater transparency on pay

8

5.5

12.5

12.5

Support from senior executives

Very usefulSomewhat useful

8.5

1

12

28

Not very useful2

4

Not at all useful

Figure 11: In-company gender diversity programmes (internal perspective) 39

They key driver, which was rated as either very or somewhat useful by all of our interview
partners, was the support from senior executives or top management. How did top managers
view their own role? All of our interview partners, which belonged to this stakeholder group,
were aware of the (key) role they play as the following statement by a London-based top
manager illustrates:‘I feel that I have a role to play in making sure that […] diversity […] [is secured] - justhaving senior people involved in those programs is important; it gives it a credibility
and a profile that’s often [what] they need.’

39 Two respondents preferred to refrain from rating ‘Greater transparency on promotion policies‘ andone respondent preferred to refrain from rating ‘More flexible work arrangements‘.

32

In turn, one top manager from Frankfurt acknowledged that the lack of support from senior
management turns this void into a barrier:‘And to put it quite bluntly, I am often noticing that a number of people in top
management (executive and the level below) hold ideas on this topic [of diversity]that basically lack any urgency to engage with this issue.’ 40
Of the HR members we interviewed, all seconded the importance of a supportive senior
management:‘I mean to be honest to me the senior executive piece is the biggest one. Because if
it’s seen to be the right thing to do from the top down and you know they sort of leadby example then you know you can put all sorts of other programs in place but
actually, if you don’t have that it’s never actually going to change the culture of theorganisation. And ultimately if the culture is right, then all of this stuff with a bit ofhelp should start to take care of itself, but you’ve got to set the tone from the top.’(HR lead, London)
These statements also illustrate how (the support from) senior management or leadershipand the (right) culture are closely intertwined. Again, taking a closer look at the data anddifferentiating between countries as well as the two internal stakeholder groups revealed acouple of differences. Increased pay and greater transparency on pay was more important to
British than to German interview partners, which might be due to the increased awarenessregarding this issue caused by the Gender Pay Gap Reporting. In line with the less favourable
response regarding the importance of promotion gaps in Germany, greater transparency on
promotion policies was rated almost exclusively as very or somewhat useful by our British
respondents, which was not the case in Germany. A further divide emerged when comparing
the responses from HR and top management. Increased pay and greater transparency pay
were considered as either not very or not at all useful by top managers, whereas the majorityof members of HR perceived of these efforts to be somewhat or very useful.
External Perspective of Executive Search Firms. London-based ESFs View Themselves as
Stronger Advocates for Greater Diversity Than Frankfurt-based ESFs.
In line with the in-company initiatives presented in the previous paragraph, we asked ourinterview partners working at ESFs to rate a number of good practices that can catalyse
greater gender diversity. Figure 12 shows responses from London-based ESFs and Figure 13
from Frankfurt-based ESFs, demonstrating the decisive differences between Germany and theUnited Kingdom.

40 Original quote: “Und ganz brutal gesagt, ich stelle wirklich häufig fest, dass es immer noch genügend

Menschen in Führungspositionen gibt (Vorstand und 1. Ebene), die darüber [über Diversität] ein
Gedankengut haben, wo die Notwendigkeit sich damit zu beschäftigen gar nicht da ist.“33

Could you please rate the following good practices from very
useful to not at all useful?
(British responses only, n = 8)

Supporting Chairmen in handling resistance to female
candidates from other Board members.

62

Supporting female candidates throughout theappointment process.

7

1

Ensuring female representation on the long list andthe short list.

71

Finding creative ways to expand the talent pool andreaching out to female candidates.

8

Challenging Chairmen and Nomination Committees
when defining the brief (emphasis on underlying
competencies instead of prior experience only)

7

Proactively putting diversity on the agenda in theappointment process

Very usefulSomewhat useful6

Not very useful1

2

Not at all useful

Figure 12: Best practices promoting greater gender diversity, London-based ESFs (external perspective)34

Could you please rate the following good practices from very
useful to not at all useful?
(German responses only, n = 9)

Supporting Chairmen in handling resistance to female
candidates from other Board members.

Supporting female candidates throughout theappointment process.

Ensuring female representation on the long list andthe short list.

3

2

2

5

4

Finding creative ways to expand the talent pool andreaching out to female candidates.

Challenging Chairmen and Nomination Committees
when defining the brief (emphasis on underlying
competencies instead of prior experience only)

Proactively putting diversity on the agenda in theappointment process

Very usefulSomewhat useful

3

2

2

3

5

3

4

1

3

6

Not very useful2

3

Not at all useful

Figure 13: Best practices promoting greater gender diversity, Frankfurt-based ESFs (external perspective) 41

All of the good practices were rated as either somewhat or very useful in London. In contrast,
Frankfurt-based head-hunters were less positive in their assessment of the usefulness of thesame practices. We can think of a number of reasons for this variation. On the basis of theinterviews we conducted, we can conclude that the role of ESFs in the UK differs
fundamentally from ESFs in Germany. Asked about the importance of ESFs in the process of
securing greater diversity among senior management, London-based head-hunters called it
their ‘moral obligation’ to push for this diversity and considered their role as ‘significant’. In
contrast, the majority of Frankfurt-based head-hunters was less vocal in this matter. But as
ESFs serve their clients and do operate locally42, this variation of executive search practices
might only mirror different attitudes towards gender diversity in London and Frankfurt.
41 N=7 for the last practice as one interview partner said they were not in a position to judge theeffectiveness of that practice since they had no experience with it.
42 Boyle et al refer to this as the “global recruitment capability” (1996: 500) of ESFs. As the industry
went through a period of globalization, they learned that an “understanding of the peculiarities of thelabor market and the industry in the country in question” (Faulconbridge/ Beaverstock/ Hall 2014: 3) isessential to the successful recruitment process. Hence, “the overwhelming majority of international
searches will continue to be operationalized from the world city in which the client’s headquarters are
based” (Boyle et al 1996: 505).

35

Additionally, this different assessment of good practices could also be due to a lack of(positive) experience with or reluctance to deploy such practices in Germany in general or
because these practices are a better fit for the British context as our role model study was
based upon data collected in London. Furthermore, head-hunters based in London might
simply have adopted a certain language and mind-set on gender diversity that makes themreluctant to admit that certain practices are not very or not at all useful.
External Perspective of Diversity Specialists. Middle Management Can Be Both Barrier andKey.
We did not present the diversity specialists we interviewed with a finite list of barriers but
instead asked them what they considered to be obstacles to greater gender diversity withinorganisations. They drew particular attention to the role of middle managers:‘They [the middle management] are the group on which you must focus most. They[...] are the ones who need the most support in having the courage to change andhaving support around them in terms of how to lead a team of … you know if you area middle-aged man […] you probably would’ve never had to work with a young
Muslim woman … you probably never had to deal with people who are very, very
different from you.’(Diversity specialist 1, London)‘Most things, if you drive cultural change, has to come from the top of theorganisation. Where it gets stuck is in the middle […] and we talk about this layer
quite a lot, it’s probably the root of most evils.’(Diversity specialist 2, London)
The middle management was also regarded an important barrier – as well as central lever –by internal stakeholders:‘Because I think often it’s not the senior executives, it’s in the middle where issueslie.’(HR lead, London)
Discussion
Adducing that (corporate) culture is key to understanding the lack of diversity as well as thecentral lever to increase diversity raises (at least) three questions. 43 First of all, what is culture
and how can it be measured? Secondly what are the cultural differences related to diversity
in the cases of the financial centres we studied? Thirdly, in which way do these culturaldifferences manifest itself, i.e. how do financial practices variegate spatially? All of thesequestions can only be answered if the institutional framework, i.e. government-led initiatives
and the role of the regulator as well as industry-led initiatives, is considered. As we conducted

43 Another – if not the – important question concerns how culture can be changed. We have touched

upon this in the findings, i.e. with regard to the duration as well as the levers, but have to acknowledge
that it is beyond the objective of our project to investigate in detail how cultural change happens.

36

our study in a post-crisis environment, we also briefly need to account for changes that
occurred since the crisis.
Impact of the 2007 – 2009 Financial Crisis. In order to account for how the crisis impacted thecompanies (and hence their institutional setting) we studied, our semi-structured interviews
included a question asking about developments in the past ten years.44 Regulation was
mentioned by all interview partners in the UK and emphasized more strongly in comparison
to the German responses we collected, which leads us to draw the conclusion that regulatory
pressure is felt more strongly in London:‘There’s a bit of peer group pressure […] companies not wanting to be found to be
the only person [company] who has no woman on the board. Some of thetransparency […] is coming with equality [reference to Gender Pay Gap Reporting] […]but also the expectation of the workforce.’(Top manager, London)
The power of the regulator was underlined by a London-based head-hunter:‘[T]hey [the regulator] push who and what is on the agenda.’
This not only shows how much institutions like the regulator matter, but surfaces aninteresting finding concerning diversity as we spoke to people working in different parts of
the industry. As banks were at the heart of the immediate post-crisis regulation (not least
because of them being in the spotlight of public attention), they were also perceived as moreprogressive than asset managers and insurers in terms of (gender) diversity and culturalchange, which includes diversity. Numbers confirm this (cf. HM Treasury/ Virgin Money 2016:32). Asset managers, as one of the HR leads we interviewed in London stated ‘came to theparty a little bit later.’ This assessment was supported by various stakeholders:‘[After the crisis] the regulator was pretty occupied with banks. But what we can see
now that this focus is slowly shifting, we have to assume that we will be next [on theiragenda].’(Top manager, London)
Additionally, head-hunters viewed the regulator as key player, who also, at an earlier stage,
hampered diversity due to tight regulations. Overall, the impact of the crisis was felt
differently in both countries and financial centres. This is not only mirrored in the British
government and financial industry pushing (much more) strongly for cultural change andgreater diversity, but also different understandings of diversity as we will argue.
Influence of Industry- and Government-Led Initiatives. In addition to these post-crisis
developments, our content analysis in the previous chapter of this paper revealed a numberof decisive differences regarding both the financial industry and efforts undertaken by the
44 We are aware that it is difficult if not impossible to generalize a) the developments after the crisis andb) the industry as a whole. This was constantly raised as an objection by our interview partners. We
usually would ask them to share their personal experience. Hence, they represent personal(ised)accounts of experts working in different – but rarely all – parts of the industry.

37

government/ regulator in the two cases we studied. Hence, our interviews presented thechance to reflect on the (perceived) importance and effectiveness of government- andindustry-led initiatives. Asking our respondents which initiative they considered mostimpactful, we were also interested to uncover why voluntary agreements like the Women in
Finance Charter were chosen (and to some degree led to a greater percentage of women on
boards) in the United Kingdom and how, in contrast, the German financial services sector
viewed the gender legislation quota. The quota came into effect on 1st January 2016 andaffects only supervisory, not executive boards.
Overall, London-based interview partners were supportive of the Women in Finance Charterand the Davies as well as the Alexander-Hampton reviews, adducing that this dovetailing ofindustry- and government-led efforts was the key to their success. The Gender Pap Gap
Reporting was rather disputed.
‘The Women in Finance Charter - I think it has been helpful. I’d probably say it’s been
the one that shifted the dial the most in terms of signing up to the Charter, publicly
disclosing your data and the progress that you are making. […]I actually think the one that’s not helpful is the Gender Pay Gap Report because it’s avery blunt instrument and you are not comparing like for like.’(HR lead, London)‘I think they are all good in their own ways. […] I think the Pay Gap Reporting is good[…] [and] companies and should be embarrassed. So, there’s nothing like a bit ofembarrassment prompting action. […] I think anything that just raises the profile,gets people to do things, even just starts the conversation, has to be a good thing.’(Top manager, London)
This latter point on the importance of raising awareness and discussion (as well as education)
was stressed by a number of interview partners. It seems that the Women in Finance Charterand the Gender Pay Gap Reporting – irrespectively of their effectiveness, which can hardly bemeasured since they have only been introduced in 2016 and 2017 respectively – ignited adebate on diversity, emphasizing the discursive and performative element of ‘naming andshaming’, as a London-based head-hunter called it. For some interview partners, these
initiatives were thus ‘vehicles’, whereas others viewed them as ‘game changer[s]’. The
existence of industry initiatives as such – in particular in contrast to the lack thereof inGermany – can possibly be attributed to the awareness of the fact that achieving morediversity requires a concerted effort that exceeds what individual companies can achieve on
their own. One London-based HR lead argued along these lines:‘[W]e do a lot of work outside the firm as well getting involved in industry groups andthings like that. Because we recognise that alone we can do certain stuff within ourfour walls but actually to change the landscape this is a much bigger issue thansomething that is unique to [this company]. […] So actually, if we’re all serious about
this the way that we’re going to see change is by coming together and doing
something as an industry.’38

Talking about industry- and government-led initiatives in Germany resulted in theacknowledgement of the lack of such projects, and a debate dominated by one government
initiative: the gender legislation quota. The recently passed Transparency on Remuneration
Act was unanimously considered impractical and useless for the goal of achieving greater pay
as well as transparency on pay as the quote below illustrates.
‘[It was] requested, desired, and not implemented.’ 45(Top manager, Germany)
Opinions regarding the gender legislation quota were more nuanced. Whereas one Frankfurtbased head-hunter levelled critique on the basis of it targeting the wrong body (i.e. thesupervisory board and not executive committees), the majority – with exceptions – of the top
managers we interviewed expressed a rather favourable view.
‘Quotas required by law do not make sense in my opinion, this is also what my female
managers are telling me here [in this company].’ 46(Top manager 1, Frankfurt)‘I was an adamant opponent to the gender legislation quota. But I now have come torealise how much mental resistance needs to be broken, and quotas might be able
to help with this.’ 47(Top manager 2, Frankfurt)‘I believe that in particular the gender legislation quota and the debate surrounding
the female quota has been very helpful. Companies don’t like it that they’re being
told what to do, but because of the debate and the pressure that it creates it is very
helpful. I consider this to be the most effective action.’48(Top manager 3, Germany)
Voluntary agreements like Charta der Vielfalt were viewed critically because of a lack oftargets, hence making progress (or lack thereof) immeasurable. A Frankfurt-based HR
member called it a mere exercise of attaching one’s signature to it and receiving theopportunity to take photo. A top manager of an insurance company referred to it as ‘lip
service’.
Industry-led initiatives in the British financial sector were considered more impactful. Helena
Morrissey, a British financier, and her campaign, the 30% Club, was mentioned numerous
times and considered a game changer by one interview partner in particular:

45 Original quote: “Gewünscht, gewollt und nicht umgesetzt.”
46 Original quote: “[G]esetzlich vorgegeben Quote halte ich für nicht sinnvoll, das sagen mir auch alle

weiblichen Führungskräfte hier [in dieser Firma].“
47 Original quote: “Ich bin absoluter Quotengegner eigentlich gewesen. Ich merke aber jetzt, dass soviel geistige Widerstände noch zu brechen sind, dass Quoten dabei helfen etwas zu verändern.“
48 Original quote: “Das mag man zwar nicht in den Unternehmen, dass da etwas vorgeschrieben wird,
aber allein schon die Diskussion darüber und der Druck, der dadurch aufgebaut wird, ist sehr hilfreich.
Ich halte das für die effektivste Maßnahme.“

39‘When Helena set up the 30% Club, there was not a [single] government-led
initiative. The government wasn’t really doing much at all around gender […]. [She]has pushed the government to do more. […] I definitely do think the one that put iton the government’s radar was the 30% Club.’(Diversity specialist, London)
Whereas financial services as a sector still lack diversity, the comparison between Germany
and the UK shows significant differences. In order to understand these better, we will now
return to the questions on culture: what is it, in which way does it manifest itself in the cases
we studied and how are financial practices mirroring these different understandings ofdiversity/ diverse culture?
What is Culture? An interesting development in the debate on culture in financial services has
been The Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards in the UK, which culminated in theestablishment of the Banking Standards Board (BSB) in 2015. The underlying rationale wasthat despite regulatory pressure, the underlying culture of major financial institutions has notchanged in the aftermath of the crisis. In their work, the BSB focuses on trust(worthiness):“The focus of our work is on trustworthiness: not on whether trust is given, but on
whether it is deserved. And while trust can take a long time to earn, trustworthinessis in the hands of firms themselves. A firm cannot decide to be trusted: but it can
decide to aim to be worthy of trust.” (Banking Standards Boards 2018: 3)
It connects the question of culture to trust:“When we talk about culture in this context, we mean the way that things get done
within an organisation; the assumptions, values and expectations that shape the way
in which people behave in a group (and which may be very different to how they
behave in other groups, or on their own). […] Understanding and managing the cultureof the firm it leads is therefore a core responsibility of any board.” (Banking Standards
Boards 2017: 6)
In their employee surveys, the BSB investigates nine criteria that qualify trust (cf. ibid: 9),
using them as the basis of their assessments. In addition, they also conduct interviews, focus
group discussions and deploy board questionnaires (cf. ibid: 12). Pertinent to our research
are their findings on diversity. In their most recent annual review the BSB identified a “firm’s
culture […] itself [as] a barrier to gender equality” (12). Whereas we did not adopt such asystematic approach to measuring culture, one of the most common responses we received
when asking our interview partners to describe financial services as a work environment wasthat the work culture is perceived as conservative.
Diverse Cultures/ Cultures of Diversity. Diversity was understood very differently in the two
financial centres and systems we studied. These understandings were closely tied to thecultural context of the respective society, including the institutional setting we detailed in theprevious section. In the UK, the key phrase was ‘diversity of thought’. The conversation on
diversity encompassed much more than just gender and was, not least because of the40

importance of class in the British society, inevitably tied to socio-economic background. An
understanding which aligns partly with the feminist concept of intersectionality emerged:‘So, I think you can focus on the women bit but it’s not just if you get a bunch of AngloSaxon women and Anglo-Saxon men together that’s nothing like as good as getting aproperly diverse team in every dimension.’(Top manager 1, London)‘The more that we can move from just having for example senior female role models
to having other role models demonstrating a degree of diversity the more people
will comfortable coming to work for an organisation.’(Top manager 2, London)
Additionally, a number of interview partners acknowledged the importance of context andlinked diversity to an inclusive work environment that supports such diversity among
employees.
‘But essentially, what we’re trying to do here is create an environment that isinclusive for all.’(HR lead, London)
In Germany, diversity was primarily understood as gender diversity and in the context ofinclusion, which relates to the integration of disabled people 49.
‘[…] [T]he topic diversity is anchored in our company culture. Our current focus is on
the advancement and promotion of women.’ 50(Top manager, Frankfurt)
Race is very much a taboo topic as people use the term culture rather than ethnicity or race.
One top manager, who had international work experience, offered the following judgement
on how German financial companies compare to international ones:‘You can see a clear difference between international companies and German
companies. And you have to add to that, diversity to me encapsulates the chance tointroduce ideas that are different into a company, but it also means to accept gender,
to accept homosexuality, to accept religions, to accept different cultures – andcompanies that are German at their core struggle with this.’ 51

49 Inclusion (“Inklusion”) is in Germany primarily understood in relation to disability. See, for example,

the “Aktionsplan der Commerzbank”, a report on diversity & inclusion, by the German bankCommerzbank
from
June
2018
(available
online:https://www.commerzbank.de/media/karriere/diversity_neu/Aktionsplan_Inklusion_Commerzbank_Bar
rierefrei_20180604.pdf).
50 Original quote: “[D]das Thema Vielfalt ist auch unserer Unternehmenskultur damit verankert. Deraktuelle Fokus liegt bei uns insbesondere aus dem Frauenförderung.“
51 Original quote: “Also man kann einen deutlichen Unterschied zwischen internationalen Unternehmen
und deutschen Unternehmen ziehen. Muss man jetzt dazu sagen, “diversity” ist für mich häufig auchdie Möglichkeit andersdenkende Impulse in Unternehmen zu bringen. heißt aber auch die Akzeptanz
der Geschlechter, die Akzeptanz auch von Gleichgeschlechtlichkeit, Akzeptanz von Religionen, das41

(Top manager, Frankfurt)
Adding the external perspective of executive search firms proved to be particularly insightful
in the German case. Diversity was perceived as a ‘burden’ and created ‘tensions’, as two
Frankfurt-based head-hunters put it. Furthermore, another obstacle to greater diversity (andhighlighting what is at the core of culture in finance) were the German language requirements
for board positions as one head-hunter pointed out. Both the culture of fintech companies
and in private equity was perceived by two other Frankfurt-based head-hunters similar to theold, white, male culture currently dominating senior management.
A distinct feature of the interviews with our German respondents was – and that might lend
itself to the narrow focus on gender diversity – an individualised understanding of genderequality. This means problems that exist due to gender inequality, i.e. the lack of availabilityof child care, are not perceived as a systemic or structural problem but as a matter ofindividual failure or success, i.e. the responsibility of women. Thus, “the question of social
justice is recast in personal, individualized terms” (Rottenberg 2014: 422). There is a greatamount of theory on this particular phenomenon, the (puzzling) acceptance of genderinequality, which is often referred to as post-feminism (cf. McRobbie 2008). Additionally,children were perceived as barrier to women’s careers – and women’s careers only – whichis, of course, an empirically proven fact and referred to as “child penalty” (Kleven/ Landais/
Søgaard 2017), with women viewed primarily as mothers. This is not to say that children were
not adduced as an impediment to women’s careers in the UK. However, the causes of – andsolutions to – this problem were viewed as embedded within organisation and society,whereas they were very much attributed to the individual in the German case. To a large
extent this difference can be grounded in gender stereotypes. Two interview partners
remarked on this without being prompted, referring to both the importance of religion (an inparticular Catholicism) and remnants of ideas of femininity during the National Socialist
dictatorship.
Spatial Variegation of Financial Practices. Culture as well as institutions shape financial
practices which variegate spatially. Different understandings of diversity are mirrored in thework practices of the respective financial centres. Whereas diversity is primarily understoodin terms of gender in Germany, the British understanding lends itself strongly in relation toclass and socioeconomic background (one interview partner extended this comparison theUS, highlighting the importance of racial diversity). Hence, it can be said that any industry (inour case finance) mirrors the surrounding society in which it is embedded (a caveat could be
added as we primarily interviewed elitist corporations/ financial elites in general). As one
interview partner in Germany remarked:‘Companies are nothing but a mirror of the norms of a society of a country.’ 52(Top manager, Germany)
This view was shared by an HR lead from London:
Thema Umgang mit anderen Kulturen. Und da tun sich natürlich Unternehmen, die rein deutsch sind,deutlich schwerer.“
52 Original quote: “Unternehmen sind nichts anderes als [ein] Spiegel der gesellschaftlichen Werte eines
Landes.“42‘I think you need to be clear about the role that you play in society and the social
impact.’A decisive difference was the emphasis on sexual identity as part of diversity in Germany,
which was something London-based interview partners were hesitant to address as they
considered this matter to be something private (again, this is culture). The fact that the British
understanding of diversity seemed to be more nuanced than the German one shall notconceal the overall lack of diversity in the industry, in particular beyond gender. Rather, it
might be due to the fact that the close relationship to New York City and other leading
financial centres prompts employers in London to compete (and look for talent) globally,
promoting a more extended but also uniform understanding of diversity. This could, at leastin parts, elucidate also the almost exact same wording amongst the majority of interview
partners, i.e. “diversity of thought”. This is in line with what a top manager based in Germany
remarked:‘Once you enter different markets, you’re immediately asked: What does diversity
mean to you?’ 53
This is not to say that some German financial companies do not operate globally. Rather, it
seems that they adopt decisively different strategies and practices if they do so. And whereasFrankfurt is perceived as European, London is viewed as global and Anglo-American.
‘Most of the global companies are here. Asset management is a global industry. […]And regarding the global network, you’re much more connected in London than inGermany, particular back then [referring to a decade ago]. This gap became a lot
smaller. […] In addition to that you have to also account for the attractiveness of
London as a financial centre overall, not only in relation to asset management.’(Top manager, London)
Germany also exhibits, as we have illustrated, a lack of industry initiatives and a widely
disputed gender legislation quota. Explaining the masculinity of the German financial sector,
one of our interview partners related to it as historically grown. This is in line with an opinion
expressed by another top manager:‘I believe that the German financial sector is […] still dominated by a number of
institutions that can be considered very German. Whose origin is here, which areindebted to this kind of thinking, and it can […] be very much attributed to theeducation in Germany […] and how much the generation, that currently dominates
senior management, is shaped by [this education]. […]And Germany has a lot of catching up to do. And this catching up will not happen
quickly. Why? Because too little has changed in the heads of those who are currently

53 Original quote: “[W]enn man in unterschiedliche Märkte eintritt, kriegt man sofort die Frage gestellt:
Was beutetet Diversität für Euch?“43

on these boards. […] And the more these financial institutions are rooted in Germany,
the more difficult it will be.’ 54(Top manager, Frankfurt)This view was seconded by another interview partner, who assessed that the work culture in
finance in Germany is not only very masculine, but hierarchical, which they put in stark
contrast to the more diverse teams and different culture of debate outside of Germany. Asked
about different company cultures in relation to gender, one of our female interview partners
from Germany, who was a member of the top management of a European financial company,
stated the she would never again work for a German company. One of our London-basedhead-hunters provided further evidence on this fact, as they had experience working inFrankfurt and Munich, saying they had to challenge their German clients much more strongly
in comparison to the British firms they usually worked with.
The geographical diversity of financial practices and understanding of diversity needs to becontextualized within arguments that explain the dominance of London as an IFC on the
grounds of the “disproportionate amount of financial knowledge product [that] occurs in thecity” (Faulconbridge 2004: 240). The awareness as well as efforts undertaken by companies,
the industry and the government act as pull factor for elite labourers in London, which is – incontrast to Frankfurt – more “globally sourced” (ibid: 240). It demonstrates that Londonbased companies seem to be more capable (or willing) to respond to the demands of this elite
labour force, contributing to the fact that “London remains a magnet for skilled workers”(ibid: 241) in a way that Frankfurt is incapable of. It also reflects the close connection of
London to New York (Wójcik, 2013). This link is not only a cultural but also institutional one,as the presence of (and lack thereof) women’s as well as diversity networks in the U.S. andthe UK shows (see Table 4).
Conclusion and Recommendations‘Everybody here knows that diverse teams outperform those that do not havediversity. […] There’s lots and lots of research that demonstrates diverse teams
outperform. So, the intellectual argument is a given - we don’t have to convince
anybody here for our business to perform at its best we need to have as diverse ateam of people here as we possibly can. So, we all get that. […]Having said that […] there’s no silver bullet because if there was someone would’ve
found it by now. And so, we’re all just trying really hard to do different things, see
what works, see what doesn’t work, and make steps along the way. But this is a longgame. It’s not something that is going to be fixed overnight.’(HR lead, London)
54 Original quote: “Ich glaube der deutsche Finanzsektor […] ist immer noch geprägt auch von einer
Vielzahl von Instituten, die als sehr deutsch bezeichnet werden können. Die […] ihren Ursprung [hier]haben, die auch hier in dieser Denkweise verhaftet sind, und […] es liegt ganz viel auch an der […]Erziehung in Deutschland […] und wie sehr die Generationen, die heute noch in den Führungsspitzen
ist, davon [dieser Erziehung] geprägt ist. […] [D]a hat Deutschland da noch ein ganz, ganz hohen
Nachholbedarf. Und den Nachholbedarf wird es kurzfristig auch nicht schließen können. Warum? Weilsie in den Köpfen der jetzt amtierenden Vorstände noch zu wenig verändert haben. […] Und je mehr
Institutsgruppen in rein Deutschland verwachsen sind, desto schwieriger wird’s.“

44This research set out to explore mature and less mature practices for improving gender
diversity in senior management in finance. Situated at the intersection of feminist studies andeconomic geography, our study of the British and German financial industry was based on anargument of the spatial variegation of the institutional and the cultural context. Comparing
both countries, and in particular the working culture and practices in their respective financial
centres, we carved out differences and similarities to explain progress – or the lack thereof –in terms of gender diversity across both geographies.
We found that organisational culture is the biggest barrier to women’s success. In turn, thesupport from top management was regarded the most important factor driving greater
diversity (and the right culture). Whereas these findings were stable across the two IFCs westudied, we observed two very distinct cultures of diversity in Frankfurt and London. In termsof work culture, London is perceived as Anglo-American and Frankfurt as European. This has
implications for the understanding of and practices of diversity: First, a more international
character of London as a financial centre seems to be conducive to a more nuanced andcomplex understanding of diversity in comparison to Frankfurt. Despite Brexit, this cultural
asset could equip London with a comparative advantage as London-based companies are able
to attract (more) diverse talents due to a more inclusive work environment. Secondly, it also
shows that companies within financial centres adapt to and are a product of the institutions
and cultures within which they are embedded. As the British case demonstrates, regulation
as well as major industry-led initiatives can put pressure on companies and supplement oreven boost government-led efforts. In contrast, an environment that lacks concerted
industry- and governmental-efforts to change the culture of finance (including diversity) in a
post-crisis era also lacks diversity (both in terms of workforce and culture), not least becauseof a lack of awareness, as illustrated by the example of Germany. Thirdly, it means thatsolutions to the problem – the lack of diversity – not only transcends the realm of theindividual company but requires thinking beyond the business case, as the initial statement
by a London-based HR-lead shows.
In the remaining section, we wish to highlight three problems financial organisations working
towards a more diverse workforce and inclusive culture face. These encompass (1) internal
resistance, (2) outdated ways of working and leading, and (3) the complexity of diversity. We
follow up with a series of recommendations on how to address these.
Problem 1: Internal resistance.
Almost all of our interview partners mentioned internal resistance, in particular by men,
towards gender diversity initiatives:‘And there’s a flip side to this. There was a time when we went through a whole [lotof] negative comments around ‘we’ve only hired this person because she is female’.
And so that in itself is a quite difficult thing to overcome.’(HR lead, London)45

One of our external interview partners, a London-based head-hunter, even observed a‘diversity fatigue’. Thus, our first set of recommendations rests on the finding that genderequality policies should not only concern women:••

Recommendation 1a: Include male co-workers in gender equality initiatives. Working
towards greater diversity within organisations should not solely be the responsibilityof those who experience exclusion. We recommend companies to set up initiatives
that include men and that aim at fixing the gender ratio across the entire organisation.
A small number of financial companies very recently a) introduced initiatives that
include men and b) problematised the formation of the so-called ‘pink-ghettos’ within
financial companies (i.e. female-dominated parts of the business, like HR andmarketing).
Recommendation 1b: Call out wrong perceptions to counter internal backlash. Despite
a fear of internal backlash as a result of gender equality and diversity programmes,
finance is not a diverse industry – in particular at the top. Instead, it continues to be a
male-dominated industry and it is the responsibility of financial organisations to
acknowledge this.

Problem 2: Outdated (and gendered) ways of working, leading and recruiting.
Another problem that was repeatedly brought up in the interviews concerned working
practices, in particular flexible working. The pressure of presenteeism was a challenge tothese new working practices:‘So flexible working is great but you find you’ll get pockets of resistance, you getpassive resistance […] ‘Okay I’ll let you do this but I resent this and I won’t speak toyou until you’re back in the office’, so ways that it can be undermined.’(HR lead, London)
The attractiveness of leadership positions was also questioned by a few interview partners.
One member of a German financial institution reported an internal survey conducted on
workers’ satisfaction, surfacing the dissatisfaction of men in leadership roles.
In addition, the lack of an equal amount of female and male recruits in asset management isanother problem that is of particular importance to this branch of the finance industry.

46•

Recommendation 2a: Embed flexible working policies instead of singling them out.
Flexible working policies are doomed to fail if the work environment is dominated bypresenteeism, long hours, and a lack of flexibility. Thus, companies need to drive
greater cultural change on the organisational level. One of our interview partners also
spoke of a toolkit that is necessary to successfully implement flexible working.

•Recommendation 2b: Revise leadership roles and responsibilities. Rethinking whatroles leaders have to assume (in particular for their team) and what are the rightqualities of a great leader might open up another avenue of thinking about leadershiproles themselves. This, in turn, might qualify other – potentially more diverse –candidates for these positions. A London-based top manager defined leadership asfollows:‘[L]eadership - it’s actually about somebody who’s a good listener, a really
good coach, somebody who can get the most out of the team no matter how
flawed they are and all teams are flawed.’•

Recommendation 2c: Create roles for female talents. In addition to rethinking thequalities of successful leaders, rethinking their areas of responsibility instead oflooking for talents to fill a role with a particular set of responsibilities might also serve
the purpose of greater diversity in management or part of the business that lack suchdiversity. A London-based HR lead detailed how such a process can look like:‘The other thing we started to do from a talent perspective […] is getting
talented females in and shaping roles around them. So it is a bit of the art ofthe possible […] we weren’t looking for someone to run a particular fund but
we build a fund proposition which is very successful over time based on theunique capabilities that they brought in order to just kind of force to increase
the number of women we had in fund management roles.’•Recommendation 2d: Change recruitment requirements. In order to enlarge the talentpool, a couple of interview partners who struggled with recruiting an equal number offemales and males at the bottom advocated for amending their entry requirements.
For example, instead of looking for graduates from STEM programmes only, theyrelaxed their eligibility criteria as long as candidates could demonstrate numeracy.

Problem 3: The complexity of (achieving) diversity. On the one hand, some of our interview
partners held the view that a focus on diversity and thus adopting an inclusive lens widens
the talent pool. Others, however, perceived it as a limitation in the sense that they had tofocus on female talents only. They feared a trade-off between performance and diversity:‘You should still be making sure that you’re hiring the right person for the job and thatyou are not lowering the bar.’(HR lead, London)
This tension between merit and diversity is difficult if not impossible to resolve. The following
recommendations however help to reduce such complexity within an organisational context.
•

Recommendation 3a: Simple messaging. Diversity is complex and encompasses a lot
more than gender, narrowing it down to this dimension however can enable the(cap)ability to act. In that sense, gender can be almost seen as a door opener. One
London-based top manager advocated for this strongly throughout the interview:‘I think the bigger and the more complex the organisation in any regard the simpler
your messaging’s [going to] be. […] Because when you’re focussing on gender you geta bit of everything else for free.’(Top manager, London)47

•

Recommendation 3b: Set clear targets. This was seen as key by different members
within financial companies, as setting such targets allows to actually measure them.
In conjunction, interview partners thus advocated for regular and detailed reporting
as well as benchmarking (in particular externally against other companies). Of
particular importance was also the personal accountability of these targets (i.e.
embedding them in performance reviews or setting KPIs around them) in order tomake them most effective.

Complexity, however, is not an excuse for the lack of diversity. Numbers continue todemonstrate that the need for action is urgent. Post-crisis developments, in particularinterrogating the normative foundation of financial governance (cf. Schuberth/ Young 2011),
provide a unique chance to address the dearth of diversity, not least because we showed that
this links to more than just gender and, most importantly, culture. As much as the businesscase logic is privileged in the world of finance, the lack of diversity might be evidence to thefact that this is simply not enough. Gender diversity is (also) driven by the conviction that it is
the necessary and right thing to do. How can this shift be achieved? An HR lead from London
highlighted the crucial importance of educating and raising awareness within companies:‘I think the other really important thing here is continual education and discussion.
[…] [I]t is around talking and educating that you start to see the shift. And that’s been
our experience here that just raising awareness is part of the journey. So, […] a coupleof years ago we talked about unconscious bias and it was fascinating, because lots ofpeople think they do not have unconscious bias. But it’s only when you talk to them
about what they might be and how they might show up then, I think… it was quite an
enlightening conversation.’
Creating greater (gender) diversity goes beyond the scope of individual companies. It
encompasses the industry, the regulator and society as whole. Our study has shown that thedriving forces of diversity within companies depend very much upon forces outside of them.
Looking for the causes as well as solutions to the lack of diversity demands that companies
look both inside and outside their own four walls for a long-lasting impact. This includes
challenging the formation of (gender) stereotypes, which happens early on in schools andcontinues to determine educational as well as career trajectories, as well as their perception
and representation in the media – to name a few of the examples our interview partners
pointed out.

48

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Appendix A. Samples and Sampling Procedure (Content Analysis)
We use two different samples in the content analysis. Sample 1 is based on a list of financial companies retrieved
from Thomson Reuters (TR). TR provides ESG (environmental, social and corporate governance) scores that
include women’s percentage in the labour force and on company boards. We searched the TR database forpublic companies that have their headquarters either in Germany or United Kingdom, that TR classified as‘Financials’ and which reported ESG data on Gender Diversity (n = 143). Within Financials, TR furthermore
distinguishes between the following categories: Investment Banking & Investment Services (n = 27), Banking
Services (n = 20), Insurance (n = 17), Collective Investments (n = 42), Real Estate Operations (n = 17) and
Residential & Commercial REITs (n = 20). In order to limit ourselves as much as possible to what we define as
the core of finance, we decided to remove financial companies that belong to the category Real Estate
Operations and Residential & Commercial REITs. This also responds to the three types of financial companies wechose to include in our interview sample: asset managers, banks and insurers. Our final sample, which provides
the basis for the first part of the following analysis, consists of 106 companies. In this list, publicly listedcompanies in the UK represent the majority (n = 97), which mirrors the importance London has a financial centre
in comparison to Frankfurt. We chose to start with this list as the ESG data also allows us – without conducting
interviews yet – to explore patterns regarding the female representation of women at numerous levels of thecompany in these different sectors, and potentially in relation to our findings on gender equality initiatives(although this could in no way amount to a measure of their effectiveness. Sample 2 consists of the ten largest
banks in London. For this, we relied on a list provided by Financial News London. 55 This focus on banks was
driven by one of our central findings: that equality initiatives amongst banks represent the lion’s share of such
efforts in the industry in comparison to the attempts (or rather lack thereof) of other subsectors, in particularasset managers. Scrutinising this smaller sample allows us to take a closer look at the equality initiatives
themselves as well as the characteristics of the banks (including nationality and type of bank) that deploy them.

55

Source:20170626

52

https://www.fnlondon.com/articles/banks-accused-of-undermining-diversity-efforts-

Appendix B. A Note on Elite Interviews
The challenges of elite interviews (in particular in financial services) have been documented in detail by anumber of scholars. Linda McDowell stresses dependencies like “luck and chance, connections and networks,
and the particular circumstances at the time” (1998: 2135), which are critical to this kind of data collection. As
much as we tried to control for these factors by our choice to approach interview partners via cold-emailing, wenevertheless acknowledge that “personal attributes” (ibid: 2136) like class, gender and race as well as – in ourcase – the affiliation with an elite university affected our positionality in the field. Gordon Clark highlights
another key feature of elite interviewing:
Just as I am interested in close dialogue as a means of world-making, so too are respondents committed
to constructing worlds through their dialogue with researchers. (1998: 82)
As all of our respondents were (very) well educated, belonged to either the middle or the upper class and experts
themselves, they were not only answering but also challenging the questions we posed, not least because of
their status as experts and leaders (the latter applies in particular to top managers). Calling into question
conventional assumptions on hierarchy in interviews (ibid: 80), this affected both how we collected data andwhat kind of data. What emerged was thus a rather “reciprocal relationship” (ibid), in which interview partners
not only challenged some of the core assumptions of our research (i.e. the focus on gender diversity) but werealso interested in an exchange of information (i.e. our academic insight into gender (in)equality in finance). This
raises another series of concerns relating to the (self-)representation of the researcher, in particular how muchof one’s own opinion and research shall reveal as a researcher in the interview (cf. McDowell 1998: 2137). Unlessasked by our interview partners, we chose to not present any results of our research so far and refrained fromaddressing any disagreements we had with our interview partners as this is common research practice (cf. ibid:
2143).
Paying particular attention to the post-crisis landscape in which we conducted our research, Erica Schoenberger
underlines the usefulness of elite interviews as appropriate means to study corporate decisions in “periods of
economic and social change” (1991: 180). Additionally, she elaborates on the feature of ambiguity as inherent
to in particular open-ended interviews, and emphasizes their epistemological richness: “If ambiguity is thelesson, however, then it should not be cleared up, but evaluated in its own right” (ibid: 185). We will adhere to
this conclusion in the last session of this paper as we chose to develop our recommendations on the back ofsuch ambiguities.

53

Appendix C. Sample and Sampling Procedure (Exploratory Study)
We interviewed four group of stakeholders, which can be divided into internal and external.
Internal Stakeholders. We approached our interview partners primarily via cold-emailing and following a topdown approach. Choosing a country first, we identified the largest employers in asset management, banking andinsurance. As our aim was to account for cultural differences, we primarily targeted German financial institutionsin Germany and British financial institutions in the United Kingdom. Table 3 depicts the breakdown of theinstitutions (divided by domestic capital market and sector) which our interview partners work for.
Table 3: Nationality (defined by location of headquarters) of companies of interview partners
Asset managers
Banks
Insurers

German3
6
3

British

4
4
2

Other

1
1
2

NB: Numbers refer to the institution of the interviewee as in some cases we spoke to different people from the same company. This data
refers only to internal interview partners.

External Stakeholders. We also approached diversity specialists and executive search firms. We approachedheads of women’s networks and organisations or businesses whose aim is to increase diversity within the sector.
In addition, we reached out to executive search firms based in either London or Frankfurt – either to thefounders/ CEOs or consultants responsible for financial services. We conducted 18 interviews with 19 people
working in recruitment and executive search for clients in financial services in London (n = 9) and Frankfurt (n =9). Our sample included 17 different executive search firms (ESFs) and 1 recruitment agency.
In total, 52 interviews took place, which amounts to 28,54 % of the whole sample of people we contacted. We
emailed our potential interview partners inviting them to participate in our study. We retrieved their names andemail addresses from the websites of financial companies (or ESFs), annual or CSR reports, other PR material on(gender) diversity. Our initial email featured a short invitation to participate in our research. Following a positive
reply, we send through more information on the research project, including an information sheet with further
details.
As Table 4 shows, the response rate and numbers of interviews in relation to interview requests vary greatly
between both countries. In addition to cold-emailing, we used snow-balling and our personal networks in one
case as we wanted to minimise the bias associated with this method.
Table 4: Overview of acquisition process via cold-emailing in Germany and the UK
Interview requests
Response rate*
Interviews

Cold-emailing (Germany)N = 79N = 48 (60,76 %)N = 29 (36,71 %)Cold-emailing (UK)N = 108
N = 37 (34,26 %)N = 22 (20,37 %)* Response to request includes all people who responded to our emails, even if they only showed interest but did not agree upon aninterview in the end. Rejection rate includes negative responses, i.e. people who rejected to be interviewed.

54

Appendix D. Questions on Socio-Economic Status
1. How old are you?
2. What is the highest level of education you have completed?
3. Which Ethnic group do you belong to?
4. Which citizenship(s) do you hold?
5. How would you describe your economic class?

55

Appendix E. Socio-Economic Background of Interview Partners
The average age of our interview partners was 49,18 years. 73,53% described their ethnicity as White British or
White Caucasian. 56 Figures 14 and 15 depict the responses regarding class background and highest level of
education. The majority of our interviewees identify as belonging to the middle class and completed a
postgraduate degree (master’s or a PhD).

How would you describe your economic class?
(n = 34)

9%
18%

73%

prefer not to say/ not specified

middle class

upper class

Figure 14: Socio-economic background of interview partners

Figure 15: Educational background of interview partners

56 This does not imply that 28% of our sample were not White British or White Caucasian. They either
preferred not to say or did not state an Ethnic group but a nationality.

56

Appendix F. Questionnaire for Internal Stakeholders (HR and Top Management)
Part A

Financial Crisis

1.

How has the industry changed since the financial crisis?

2.

How has your company changed since the financial crisis?

3.

What effect has had the financial crisis on (gender) diversity in finance?

4.

What effect has had the financial crisis on (gender) diversity in your company?

5.

Would more diverse leadership prevent a next crisis?

Part B

Diversity Policies

6.

What do you mean when you speak about diversity?

7.

Why is diversity in finance important?

8.

Why is diversity important to your company?

9.

If you had to choose from the following options, how would you rate gender diversity on your agendaa.

Among top 3 items on the strategic agendab.

Among top 10 items on the strategic agendac.

On the strategic agenda, but not in top 10

10. Which role do you ascribe to yourself in securing more diversity within your company? (only top
management)
11. Why do you think there are so many (white) men represented in senior positions in finance, i.e. whatmakes it easier for them to succeed?
12. Could you please rate the following barriers to the success of women’s careers in their impact fromvery important to not at all important?
Very

Somewhat

Not very

Not at allimportantimportantimportantimportant

Culture of organisations (dominated by malevalues)Unconscious bias and double standards due
to gender stereotypes(Exclusion from) old boy’s networks
Promotion gaps

Double glass ceiling (low level of women in
the middle management)57

13. Could you please rate the following diversity programmes in their usefulness for women’s careers
from very useful to not at all useful?
Very usefulSomewhat

Not very

Not at all

usefulusefulusefulSupport from senior executives
Increased pay and greater transparency on
payGreater transparency on promotion policies
Presence of female role models
More flexible work arrangements

14. What is your opinion of and experience with government- as well as industry-led initiatives?
15. How do you think financial services can stay competitive and attractive for financial talent, especiallyin comparison to tech companies like Google or Facebook?
Part CWork Culture

16. How would you describe the work culture in financial services in Britain/ Germany?
17. How do you describe the role of the culture of the domestic capital market of a financial company interms of the work culture?
18. A major point of criticism in the aftermath of the recent crisis has been the lack of trust in financial
institutions and the necessity of cultural change. Can you, and if yes how, link this debate to the culturalchange towards more diversity?

58Appendix G. Questionnaire for External Stakeholders (Executive Search Firms)
Part A

Financial Crisis and Diversity

1.

How do you think the industry has changed since the financial crisis?

2.

What effect has had the financial crisis on (gender) diversity in finance?

3.

Why is gender diversity in finance important?

4.

What do you mean when you speak about diversity?

5.

Would more diverse (female) leadership prevent a next crisis?

Part B
6.

Appointment Practices and Diversity
In terms of securing more diversity within senior management, how would you describe the role
executive search firms play in the appointment process?

7.

Could you please rate the following obstacles to gender diversity on Boards in their impact from very
important to not at all important?
Very

Somewhat

Not very

Not at allimportantimportantimportantimportant

Perceptions of the pipeline and lack ofwomen with experience
Lack of social capital (i.e. relationships andnetworks)
Board appointment process is too subjective
and exclusionary (‘similarity attraction
paradigm’)Boardroom cultures (i.e. competitive, longhours and old boy’s club)
Cultural context (i.e. beliefs and values
toward women and work)

8.

Could you please rate the following good practices from very useful to not at all useful?
Very

Somewhat

Not very

Not atusefulusefulusefulall
useful59

Proactively putting diversity on the agenda in theappointment process
Challenging Chairmen and Nomination Committees
when defining the brief (emphasis on underlying
competencies instead of prior experience only)
Finding creative ways to expand the talent pool andreaching out to female candidates.
Ensuring female representation on the long list and theshort list
Supporting female candidates throughout theappointment process.
Supporting Chairmen in handling resistance to female
candidates from other Board members.
9.

What is your opinion of and experience with government- as well as industry-initiatives like theVoluntary Search Code or the 30% Club?

Part C

Board Culture(s)10. How would you describe the work culture in finance in the UK?
11. Do you have experience from working with companies outside the UK, e.g. in other markets? If yes,
how would you describe their work culture in finance?
12. Can you share some of the feedback you received from women you have helped to go on boards
regarding board culture as well as board dynamics since the financial crisis?
13. Referring again to this feedback but also your experience, are you aware of differences in board cultures
between financial companies (i.e. nationalities or sub-sectors)?
14. Do you have any thoughts on the onboarding procedure of new (female) board members? Do you
advise your clients on how to make board cultures more gender-inclusive and to take on developmentalroles?
15. Building upon that last question – do you think in order to achieve more gender equality in finance,
ESFs need to redefine their traditional mandate and be more willing to take on roles that are likely tocatalyse change in the sector?

60

Appendix H. Questionnaire for External Stakeholders (Diversity Specialists)
Part A

Financial Crisis

1. How do you think the industry has changed since the financial crisis?
2. What effect has had the financial crisis on (gender) diversity in finance?
3. Does this impact vary between companies, sectors or countries?
4. Would more diverse (female) leadership prevent a next crisis?
Part B

Diversity Policies

5. What do you mean when you speak about diversity?
6. Why is gender diversity in finance important?
7. Why do you think there are so many (white) men represented in senior positions in finance, i.e. whatmakes it easier for them to succeed?
8. Why do you think there are so few women and minorities represented in senior positions in finance?
9. How do you rate the acceptance or reputation and usefulness of in-company initiatives to attract more
women or to increase female representation at board level?
10. In general, diversity policies tend to focus on tangible, formal levers to influence culture. What more
can be done to leverage informal, less tangible levers, such as beliefs, and group norms?
11. What is your opinion of and experience with government- and industry initiatives? Is there one thatyou consider particularly impactful?
Part CWork Culture

12. How would you describe the work culture in financial services in Britain/ Germany?
13. A major point of criticism in the aftermath of the recent crisis has been the lack of trust in financial
institutions and the necessity of cultural change. Can you, and if yes how, link this debate to the culturalchange towards more diversity?

61Appendix I. Gender Equality Initiatives of British Banks, Asset Managers and Insurers 57
Company

SectorInitiatives

30 % Club 58

Amigo Holdings PLC

BankingServices
BankingServices
BankingServices
BankingServices

No formal policies (source)

No

Women inFinance
Charter 59
No

No formal policies (source)No

No

See Appendix K

Yes

Yes

Surveys, mentoring
schemes, leadershipprogrammes, training
session for line managers,
flexible working, paid
parental leave (source)
Sponsorship programme(source)
See Appendix K

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

No formal policies (source)

No

Yes

No formal policies (source)

No

No

In-company network(source) as well as Returners
programme, training for line
managers (including
unconscious bias) and
Women in Leadershipprogramme (source)
In-company women’s
network (source)
In-company women’s
network and unconscious
bias training (source)
Female career support andleadership training,
mentoring, unconscious bias
training, survey (source)
Leadership development
programme (source)
In-company network(source), Female
Development Programmes(source), “male-onlydevelopment programme”
in HR (source) and returnto-work programme forfemale employee (source)

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

No

Yes

No

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

Bank of Georgia Group
PLC
Barclays PLC
Close Brothers GroupPLC

CYBG PLC
HSBC Holdings PLC
International Personal
Finance PLC
Law Debenture
Corporation PLC
Lloyds Banking Group
PLC

Metro Bank PLC
OneSavings Bank PLC

BankingServices
BankingServices
BankingServices
BankingServices
BankingServices

BankingServices
BankingServices

Paragon Banking GroupPLC

BankingServices

Provident Financial PLC

BankingServices
BankingServicesRoyal Bank of Scotland
Group PLC

57 This research was conducted between March and May 2019. Sources are provided via hyperlinks.
58 Website of 30% Club has been checked for supporters on 18th October 2019 (see website).
59 Latest list of signatories used from 18th July 2019 (available online).

62

Standard Chartered PLC

BankingServices

TBC Bank Group PLC

BankingServices
Investment
Banking &Investment
Services
Investment
Banking &Investment
Services
Investment
Banking &Investment
Services
Investment
Banking &Investment
Services
Investment
Banking &Investment
Services
Investment
Banking &Investment
Services
Investment
Banking &Investment
Services
Investment
Banking &Investment
Services
Investment
Banking &Investment
Services
Investment
Banking &Investment
Services
Investment
Banking &Investment
Services
Investment
Banking &3i Group PLC

Alfa Financial Software
Holdings PLC
Allied Minds PLC

Ashmore Group PLC

Baillie Gifford Japan
Trust PLC
Brewin Dolphin Holdings
PLC
CMC Markets PLC

Hargreaves Lansdown
PLC
IG Group Holdings PLC

Impax AssetManagement Group PLC
IntegraFin Holdings plc

Intermediate CapitalGroup PLC

Inclusive Leadership
Programme, childcare andsupport of mothers, flexible
work policies, in-company
network (source)
No formal policies (source)

Yes

Yes

No

No

Parental leave policies andflexible working subject toapproval (source)

No

No

Events organised by the Alfa
Inclusion Community(source), external
cooperation (source)
No formal policies (source)

No

No

No

No

No formal policies (source)

No

No

Parental leave and flexible
working policies (source)

Yes 60No

Women at Brewin initiative,
D&I workshops and D&I
training for managers(source)
Unconscious bias training(source)

Yes

Yes

No

No

Flexible working policies(source) and unconscious
bias training for seniorleaders (source)
In-company women’s
network (source)

Yes

Yes

No

No

Flexible working policies(source)No

No

Company-wide training on
Unconscious Bias, Inclusive
Management Behaviours

No

Yes

Working group “Diversity
Matters” formed but noformal policies (source)

60 Not listed as supporter on the 30% Club website, but mentioned in their Gender Pay Gap report from2017 (source).

63

Investec PLC

IP Group PLC

Janus Henderson Group
PLC
Jupiter FundManagement PLC
Legal & General Group
PLC
London Stock ExchangeGroup PLC

Pantheon International
PLC
Quilter PLC

Rathbone Brothers PLC

Schroders PLC

St. James's Place PLC

Standard Life Aberdeen
PLC

64

Investment
Services
Investment
Banking &Investment
Services
Investment
Banking &Investment
Services
Investment
Banking &Investment
Services
Investment
Banking &Investment
Services
Investment
Banking &Investment
Services
Investment
Banking &Investment
Services
Investment
Banking &Investment
Services
Investment
Banking &Investment
Services

Investment
Banking &Investment
Services
Investment
Banking &Investment
Services
Investment
Banking &Investment
Services
Investment
Banking &Investment
Servicesand Professional Conduct(source)
Paid parental leave policies
and diversity awarenessprogramme for seniorleaders (source)
Unconscious bias training
and career development
planning (source)

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

In-company women’s
network (source)

No

Yes

Women’s Leadership Group,
in-company networks andparental coaching (source)

No

Yes

In-company networks(source) and networking
events and 50&50 as well as
by 2020 initiative (source)
In-company network,
mentoring, unconscious bias
training, parental leave andflexible working policies(source)
No formal policies but Level
20 mentioned (source)

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Returners Programme(source), leadership andunconscious bias training aswell as diverse shortlist
policy (source), founding
member of Diversity Project(source)
Training programmes on
D&I as well as unconscious
bias and paternity policies(source)
50/50 gender split atassessment centres,
parental leave and flexible
work policies, sponsorship,
diversity training (source)
Development support andflexible working policies(source)

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

Senior female and midcareer development, midcareer returns, flexible
working and parental
coaching, in-company
women’s network (source)

Yes

Yes

TP ICAP PLC

Aberforth Smaller
Companies Trust PLC
Alliance Trust PLC
AVI Global Trust PLC(formerly British Empire
Trust)
Bankers Investment
Trust PLC
Blackrock Smaller
Companies Trust PLC
Bmo Global Smaller
Companies PLC
Caledonia Investments
PLC
City of London
Investment Trust PLC
Edinburgh Dragon Trust
PLC
Edinburgh Investment
Trust PLC
Electra Private Equity
PLC
F&C Investment Trust
PLC
Fidelity China Special
Situations PLC
Fidelity European Values
PLC
Fidelity Special Values
PLC
Finsbury Growth &Income Trust PLC
Greencoat UK Wind PLC
Herald Investment Trust
PLC
HgCapital Trust PLC

HICL Infrastructure PLC
JPMorgan American
Investment Trust PLC
JPMorgan Emerging
Markets Investment
Trust PLC
JPMorgan Indian
Investment Trust PLC
JPMorgan Japanese
Investment Trust PLC

Investment
Banking &Investment
Services
Collective
InvestmentsCollective
InvestmentsCollective
Investments

In-company women’s
network (source)

Yes

Yes

No formal policies (source)NoNo

No formal policies (source)NoNo

No formal policies (source)

No

No

Collective
InvestmentsCollective
InvestmentsCollective
InvestmentsCollective
InvestmentsCollective
InvestmentsCollective
InvestmentsCollective
InvestmentsCollective
InvestmentsCollective
InvestmentsCollective
InvestmentsCollective
InvestmentsCollective
InvestmentsCollective
InvestmentsCollective
InvestmentsCollective
InvestmentsCollective
Investments

No formal policies (source)NoNo

No formal policies (source)NoNo

No formal policies (source)NoNo

No formal policies (source)NoNo

No formal policies (source)NoNo

No formal policies (source)NoNo

No formal policies (source)NoNo

No formal policies (source)NoNo

No formal policies (source)NoNo

No formal policies (source)NoNo

No formal policies (source)NoNo

No formal policies (source)NoNo

No formal policies (source)NoNo

No formal policies (source)NoNo

No formal policies (source)NoNo

No formal policies but
Senior Partner is Level 20
Advisory Council member(source)
No formal policies (source)

No

No

No

No

No formal policies (source)NoNo

No formal policies (source)NoNo

No formal policies (source)NoNo

No formal policies (source)

No

No

Collective
InvestmentsCollective
InvestmentsCollective
InvestmentsCollective
InvestmentsCollective
Investments

65

Jupiter European
Opportunities Trust PLC
Mercantile Investment
Trust PLC
Monks Investment Trust
PLC
Murray International
Trust PLCNB Global Floating Rate
Income Fund Ltd
Perpetual Income and
Growth Investment Trust
PLC
Personal Assets Trust
PLC
Polar Capital Technology
Trust PLC
Pollen Street Secured
Lending PLC
RIT Capital Partners PLC
Schroder AsiapacificFund PLC
Scottish Investment
Trust PLC
Scottish Mortgage
Investment Trust PLC
Temple Bar Investment
Trust PLC (Investment
Management)
Templeton Emerging
Markets Investment
Trust PLC
TR Property Investment
Trust PLC
Witan Investment Trust
PLC
Worldwide Healthcare
Trust PLC
Admiral Group PLC
Aon PLC

Collective
InvestmentsCollective
InvestmentsCollective
InvestmentsCollective
InvestmentsCollective
InvestmentsCollective
Investments

No formal policies (source)NoNo

No formal policies (source)NoNo

No formal policies (source)NoNo

No formal policies (source)NoNo

No formal policies (source)NoNo

No formal policies (source)

No

No

Collective
InvestmentsCollective
InvestmentsCollective
InvestmentsCollective
InvestmentsCollective
InvestmentsCollective
InvestmentsCollective
InvestmentsCollective
Investments

No formal policies (source)NoNo

No formal policies (source)NoNo

No formal policies (source)NoNo

No formal policies (source)NoNo

No formal policies (source)NoNo

No formal policies (source)NoNo

No formal policies (source)NoNo

No formal policies (source)

No

No

Collective
Investments

No formal policies (source)

No

No

Collective
InvestmentsCollective
InvestmentsCollective
Investments
Insurance
Insurance

No formal policies (source)NoNo

No formal policies (source)NoNo

No formal policies (source)NoNo

No formal policies (source)
Sponsorship programme, incompany women’s network,
return to work support,
flexible working policies,
Females of the Future
programme (source)
Women in Leadershipprogramme, return to work
programme, parental andflexible working policies(source)
Management training,
unconscious bias sessions,
Woman at Workprogramme and mentoring(source)

Yes
Yes

Yes
Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Aviva PLC

Insurance

Beazley PLC

Insurance66

Direct Line InsuranceGroup PLC

Insurance

Hastings Group Holdings
PLC

Insurance

Just Group PLC

Insurance

Lancashire Holdings Ltd
Phoenix Group Holdings

Insurance
Insurance

Prudential PLC

Insurance

RSA Insurance Group PLC

Insurance

Sabre Insurance Group
PLC
Saga PLC

Insurance

Willis Towers Watson
PLC

Insurance

Insurance

Flexible working, mentoring,development programmes
for women (source) and incompany network (source)
Mentoring scheme, D&I
training, unconscious bias
training and training forfemale leaders (source)
Unconscious bias training,
external workshops andmentoring for female
employees (source)
No formal policies (source)
In-company network,
flexible working policies andmentoring programme(source)
Unconscious bias leader
workshop, mentoring
scheme, maternity coachingand parental leave policy(source)In-company women’s
network, mentoring andunconscious bias training(source)
No formal policies (source)

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

No
No

No
Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

No

Flexible working andtargeted development
programmes (source)
In-company network(source)

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

67

Appendix J. Gender Equality Initiatives of German Banks, Asset Managers and Insurers 61
Company

SectorInitiatives

Aareal Bank AG
Commerzbank AG

Banking Services
Banking Services

Deutsche Bank AG
Deutsche Boerse AG

Banking Services
Banking Services

Grenke AG

Allianz SE

Investment Banking& Investment
Services
Investment Banking& Investment
Services
Insurance

Training for women (source)Child care, cross-mentoring, women’s
network, flexible work arrangements forparents, workshops for leadership(source)
See Appendix K
Mentoring, in-company network andcoaching for women (source)
No formal policies (source)

Hannover Rueck SE

Insurance

Muenchener
Rueckversicherungs
Gesellschaft AG

Insurance

MLP SE

Charta derVielfalt
Yes
Yes

Yes
Yes
Yes

No formal policies (source)

Yes

In-company network, mentoring,
Returners@Allianz programme (source) as
well as sponsoring, career workshops andflexible working policies (source)
Mentoring programme (source) andtraining of leadership (source)
Mentoring programmes, coaching,
diversity days, women’s networks, andpersonalised part-time and parental leave
models (source)

Yes

Yes
Yes

61 This research was conducted between March and May 2019. Sources are provided via hyperlinks.

68

Appendix K. Overview of Gender Equality Initiatives of the 10 Largest Banks in London 62
Company
Bank of
America
Merrill Lynch

Programme
Women’s networks
Global Women’s
Conference
Female Futures andFemales in Finance
Pathways to Progression
Shared parental leave
New parents workshops
and coaching
Returning Talent

Barclays

Manager Excellencesessions
Flexible working
External partnerships
Win Gender Network
Women in Leadership
Conference
Women Managing
Directors ForumSponsorship
VP Accelerator and exofficio leadership roles
Shared parental leave
Encore Returnships
Unconscious bias training
Male Allies workstreams

Citigroup

Flexible working
External partnerships
Citi Women
Leadership Development
Programme
Shared parental leave
Parental workshops
Unconscious Bias
Workshops“Comply or Explain” policy
Flexible working
External partnerships

Credit Suisse

62

Women’s Network
Family leave policies
Real Returns

FeaturesThree in-company women’s networks
Yearly conference for top female
leaders
Recruitment (targeting women fromschools and universities)
EMEA-wide programme targeting VPlevel women for further promotion
Leave policy
For employers with children

SourceGender Pay Gap Report
Women in Finance
Charter Progress Report
Women in Finance
Charter Progress Report
Women in Finance
Charter Progress Report
Gender Pay Gap Report
Gender Pay Gap Report

Return to work initiative forindividuals with a career breakTraining of in-line managers

WebsiteYes
Yes
In-company women’s network
Global conference
Event for senior female leaders in thebank
For female directors and colleagues
Career development programmes for
VPs and female leaders
Leave policy
Programme for female returners to
the workforce
Part of the leadership development
Launched in 2017 in Singapore andexpanded to London
Yes
Yes
In-company women’s network
Development programme for female
VPs and Directors
Leave policy
For employers with children
For all employees
Diverse and inclusive recruitment
behaviour
Yes
Yes
In-company women’s network
Leave policy
Paid, 12-week internships for seniorprofessionals (offered in the U.S., theUK, India and Switzerland)

Women in Finance
Charter Progress Report
Gender Pay Gap Report
Gender Pay Gap Report
WebsiteWebsite2018 annual report
WebsiteWebsiteGender Pay Gap report2018 annual report2018 annual report
WebsiteWebsiteWebsiteWomen in Finance
Charter Report
Women in Finance
Charter Report
Gender Pay Gap Report
Gender Pay Gap Report
Women in Finance
Charter Report
Women in Finance
Charter Report
Gender Pay Gap Report
Women in Finance
Charter Report
Gender Pay Gap Report
Gender Pay Gap Report
WebsiteThis research was conducted between March and May 2019. Sources are provided via hyperlinks.

69

DeutscheBank

Unconscious bias
awareness training
Flexible working
External partnerships
Women’s networks
Accomplished Top Leaders
Advanced Strategy (ATLAS)

Goldman
Sachs

Women Global Leaders
moduleParental Transition
Coaching
Maternity/ parental leave
Flexible working
External partnerships
Goldman Sachs Women’s
Network
New trading floor scheme

MBA Fellowship

Women’s Career Strategies
Initiative
Returnship Program

HSBC

JPMorgan
Chase & Co.

Unconscious bias training
Flexible working
External partnerships
Balance
Mentoring Me
Accelerating Female
Leaders
Shared parental leave
Parental leave coaching
New parent return
guarantee
Hiring Essentials
Inclusive Leadership
Programme
Flexible working
External partnership
Women’s Interactive
Network (WIN)30-5-1
Reciprocal Mentoring pilot
programme70

For all employees

Gender Pay Gap Report

Yes
Yes
Numerous in-company women’s
networks (also organisingconferences)
Global sponsorship programmeaiming to advance more women into
senior positions
For female participants of the talent
acceleration programmes
Coaching for parents taking off morethan 12 weeks
Leave policies
Yes
Yes
In-company women’s network

Gender Pay Gap Report
Gender Pay Gap Report
Website2019 female graduate recruits
receive the chance to work as atrader for a year to achieve 50 %women on trading floorAward for Summer Associates,
targeting Black, Hispanic/ Latino,
Native American or womenassociates
Retention programme for women

FN London (trial for 2019)
FN London (50%
workforce)

Paid, 8-week long return to work
program for talented professionals
after an extended absence (offered in
the Americas and India)
For Vice Presidents and above
Yes
Yes
In-company women’s network
Mentorship scheme
Programme aiming to increase
female promotion rates
Leave policy
For parents and their managers
Return guarantee for UK bank leave
returners
Course for hiring managers
Unconscious bias training for seniorleaders
Yes
Yes
In-company women’s network

Goldman Sachs website

Mentoring scheme

Women on the Move
brochure
Gender Pay Gap report

Female Executive Director is pairedwith senior leader

Gender Pay Gap Report
Gender Pay Gap Report
Gender Pay Gap Report
Gender Pay Gap Report
HR Report 2018
HR Report 2018
Goldman Sachs website

Goldman Sachs website

Goldman Sachs website

Goldman Sachs website
Goldman Sachs website
Goldman Sachs website
HSBC website
HSBC website
ESG update
Gender Pay Gap Report
Gender Pay Gap Report
HSBC website
Gender Pay Gap Report
HSBC website
HSBC website
Gender Pay Gap Report
JP Morgan Chase website

Winning Women

Introductory program for female
undergraduate and MBA candidates

Leadership Acceleration
Program
Technology Emerging
Leaders
Support sessions formothers
Maternity Mentors

Supports women in the Corporate &Investment Bank
Six-month program for female
technologists at JP Morgan Chase
For women returning from maternity
leave
Initiative supporting working mothers
through mentors
14-week training for former Vice
Presidents
For managers and leaders

ReEntry Program

MorganStanley

Unconscious bias or
inclusion training
Men as Allies
Flexible working
External partnership
Women’s Business Alliance
ISG Connects
Paths to Success
MBA Fellowship
Project Catalyst, Project
Impact and Platinum
Shared parental leave
Maternity coaching
Return To WorkManagerial training

UBS

Flexible working
External partnership
All Bar None
Education programmes
Parental Coaching
Shared parental leave
Career Comeback

Flexible working

Concept launched by WIN
Yes
Yes
In-company women’s network
Global mentoring initiative for a sixmonth duration
Recruitment of female students
Scholarship for female, Black,
Hispanic, Native American and
LGBTQ MBA students
Leadership and career development
programmes for level below Vice
President, Vice Presidents andExecutive Directors
Leave policy
Support for women before, during
and after return from maternity leave
12-week paid internship after acareer breakTo support mothers, remove
unconscious bias and culture ofinclusion
Yes
Yes
Employee network for women
Building inclusive selection practices
and leadership skills
Support for employees with children
Leave policy
Supporting professional returning tocorporate jobs (featuring on-the-job
experience, classroom learning andmentoring)Yes

JP Morgan Chase website(undergrad)
JP Morgan Chase website(MBA)
Women on the Move
brochure
Women on the Move
brochure
Gender Pay Gap report
Women on the Move
brochure
JP Morgan Chase website
Gender Pay Gap report
JP Morgan Chase website
Gender Pay Gap report
Gender Pay Gap reportMorgan Stanley website
Gender Pay Gap Report
Gender Pay Gap ReportMorgan Stanley website
Gender Pay Gap Report

Gender Pay Gap Report
Gender Pay Gap Report
WebsiteGender Pay Gap Report
Gender Pay Gap Report
Gender Pay Gap Report
UBS website
Gender Pay Gap report
Gender Pay Gap report
Gender Pay Gap report
UBS website

Website71