In July 2016, the Association of British Insurers signed up to the Women in Finance Charter as part of its commitment to promote diversity in the industry. The Women in Finance Charter is a joint effort between HM Treasury and signatories to work together to encourage gender balance across financial services.
As a signatory of the Women in Finance Charter, the Association of British Insurers pledges to achieve at least a 45% / 55% female to male gender split across management positions by 30 June 2019.
The following supplementary targets have been set to support the achievement of this goal by 30 June 2019:
- The ABI aims to maintain a rate of internal promotion into management positions that is over 50%.
- The ABI will request a 50%/50% gender diversity split in long lists provided by recruitment agencies during management recruitment processes.
- The ABI aims for at least 50% of staff to return from periods of maternity leave / shared parental leave, and flexible working requests will be considered in line with best practice.
- Equal opportunities for training and development are provided to both male and female members of staff.
The ABI recognises that improving the sector’s diversity and inclusion is vital to its future success. Diversity is not just a ‘nice to have’, which is why the ABI has signed the Women in Finance Charter. The 45/55 target we have set to be achieved by 2019 underlines our commitment to a healthy gender balance among our management team. Adopting work practices that support and nurture gender diversity is key to us achieving our gender balance target, so we have set supplementary targets to ensure this happens.
The ABI already has a good focus on internal promotion and development of its talent pipeline and our commitment to have a rate of promotion into management positions that is at least 50% demonstrates our willingness to work to maintain it. Our target around those returning to work following maternity or shared parental leave represents our determination to do our best to continue to retain and nurture talent through these life events. Having a balanced pool of candidates when recruiting sets the right tone from the start and ensures fairness in opportunity across gender.
This is why the ABI will be requiring gender balanced long lists from recruitment agencies for management positions, which is a new approach we will be adopting as Charter signatories.
Louise Hanson, Director of Advocacy, has been appointed as the Executive responsible and accountable for gender diversity and inclusion.