BBB and Landbay among 79 businesses to meet Women In Finance Charter targets
The British Business Bank (BBB) and former peer-to-peer property lender Landbay are among 79 signatories to the Women In Finance Charter to have met their targets in 2022.
In the latest update on the Charter, the state development bank was listed as among 35 signatories to have met its targets ahead of deadline, while Landbay met its target by its deadline of 2022.
The Charter was launched in 2016 to help businesses set and meet targets for female representation in senior management. Of the 235 signatories in the latest analysis, a third (79) met or exceeded their targets.
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The 79 have a wide range of targets, from as low as 20 per cent up to 50 per cent. The average target for the 79 was 38 per cent. BBB set a target of 40-50 per cent by 2025, while Landbay was aiming to hit 35 per cent by 2022.
Another former P2P lender, Funding Circle, is also signed up to the charter. It was among 12 signatories who said they were conducting market mapping exercises to proactively identify and source female talent and ensure candidate lists reflect the available pool.
Funding Circle also said it was using employee surveys to monitor feedback and enable employees to ask questions or raise concerns.
The firm has a target of 40 per cent of women in senior management positions by 2025, which it says it made good progress against in 2022.
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“Last year I spoke of the need to use the 2021 report as a warning that we need to double our efforts to achieve gender equality and it seems that many have heeded that warning”, said Government Women in Finance champion and group chief executive at Aviva Amanda Blanc.
“For the first time ever, the percentage of women represented at the highest levels has increased by more than one per cent. It was two per cent this year but I’ll take that – any progress at this stage is good progress. But what is concerning is the gap between the signatories leading the way and those who are not – we all must play our part.”
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