Source · Select Committees · Treasury Committee
Recommendation 1
1
Acknowledged
Financial services culture remains a significant barrier for women, hindering progress on harassment.
Conclusion
Our inquiry has revealed incremental improvements for women working in financial services on certain metrics, such as the proportion of women holding senior roles. Overall, there has been a disappointing lack of progress on sexual harassment and bullying, including serious sexual misconduct. Despite the best efforts of some far too little progress has been made and serious problems which should have been rooted out still persist. Significant concern remains, however, about the overall culture prevalent within the sector that holds back progress for women. While this Report deals with various challenges experienced by women in financial services, whether related to pay, harassment or maternity leave, as examples, it is this cultural deficit that allows them all to persist. Culture is also the most difficult area to seek to reform. (Paragraph 5) Diversity and inclusion
Government Response Summary
The government welcomed the report and agreed with the Committee's observations about the importance of diversity and inclusion, and the slow progress towards gender balance, but committed to no new specific actions.
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
We welcome the Committee’s report, Sexism in the City, published on 8 March, and its conclusion that there is an important role for regulators to play in promoting diversity and inclusion. We agree. Greater diversity and more inclusion in the financial services sector would help to advance our operational objectives, improving outcomes for consumers and firms by reducing groupthink. Where firms are diverse and inclusive, we consider they may be able to draw on a greater breadth of knowledge and different perspectives throughout the design and provision of a product or service, as well as improve its decision-making processes. In addition, such firms are better placed to understand and respond to the needs of a broad range of customers. Sound decision-making processes support healthy work cultures, in turn enhancing and protecting the integrity of the UK financial system. The attractiveness of the sector as one in which to build a career is also directly applicable to our new secondary competitiveness objective. The UK’s financial services industry needs to be able to recruit and retain talent from the widest possible pool in order to maintain its position as a global leader. We welcome and agree with the report’s emphasis of the importance of diversity to the sector’s competitive edge. We share the Committee’s concern that progress towards gender balance, while welcome, remains slow. Just 12% of named fund managers, for example, are women. Recent reporting has shown that at some large investment banks in the UK, there has been limited or even negative progress on the reported gender pay gap over the last five to seven years. The Government’s Women in Finance Charter update also showed some encouraging progress in senior leadership representation in a number of firms with further work to do. If regulated firms are not employing the best possible people and supporting their progress, there are potential implications for firms’ governance, decision making and the appropriateness of their resources. It raises questions, too, about firm culture.