The best places for women to work in financial services may not be banks
It’s tough to be a woman in finance. But if you’re flexible on where exactly in finance you work – away from those blasted investment banks, for example – then you have a lot more options for your career progression.
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A new report from the UK treasury, in partnership with think tank New Financial, shed some light on the issue. While investment banks have been struggling to field female representation at their highest levels, there are two types of employers that have had much less of a problem doing so: insurance companies and UK-based banks.
Insurers are the heroes of the hour. As a group, they became the most female-representative of the four company types tracked by the treasury back in 2023, but last year met an important milestone – being the first company type to reach 40% of female representation among its senior management.
Investment banks, by some margin, are the worst place for women in senior roles. There were a few reasons for this. BNP Paribas' London investment banking was noted to have “low turnover amongst senior management roles” and “a limited female candidate pool particularly in front office, STEM and specialist roles”, as well as “a narrow pipeline of female talent internally.” Its relatively low target of 30% female senior management was extended from 2025 to 2030.
Another poor sector – although nowhere near as bad as investment banking – was investment management. AXA Investment Managers, which had a 35% target that it dropped to 33%, blamed “natural attrition” for its changing goal, of all things. It also blamed “organizational change”, namely, its acquisition. It is unclear why this would disproportionately impact female managers.
Still, BNP and AXA are both significant employers of women, obviously. BNP’s country head for the UK is a woman - Emmanuelle Bury-Lucas. And so is AXA’s former head of alts, Isabelle Scemama, who is now BNP’s global head of alts. There are plenty of women at the top.
Some organisations have gone even further with their ambitions, however. Three firms, according to the Treasury, have targets - that they've achieved - to have 100% female representation at senior levels: Beaufort Group Consulting, Campbell & Fletcher, and Magenta Financial Planning. All are small businesses that appear to be founded and run by women (according to their companies houses filings). There is no room for senior men there.
Overall, parity with men is a generationally distant dream for the financial services industry as a whole. UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves, in the foreword to the report, noted that “at the current rate, we will not reach parity for another two decades.” The old boys club continues – for now, at least.
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