Women in UK financial services still earn a fifth less than men
Women in UK financial services still earn a fifth less than men
The gender pay gap across the UK’s financial services industry remains persistently wide, with women earning just 78 pence for every pound earned by male colleagues, according to a Bloomberg analysis of government data.
The findings come despite years of corporate pledges to improve diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in the sector.
Although the gap narrowed by 1.2 percentage points since 2023, it remains nearly twice as large as the average across the UK workforce. The disparities are most pronounced in investment banking, where average female earnings at major banks remain significantly lower than those of male peers.
Among the top five UK-listed banks, HSBC Bank Plc reported the highest gender pay gap at nearly 41%. Only Barclays showed notable progress, with a nearly 4-point reduction, though its pay gap still sits at 39%.
HSBC and Standard Chartered both saw their pay gaps widen over the past year. The same banks also publish data on their ethnicity pay gaps; pay disparities for Black employees increased at HSBC, Barclays and Standard Chartered.
In total, women working at the top five banks earned an average of 67 pence for every pound earned by men.
Despite several initiatives aimed at increasing the representation of women at senior levels, progress has been slow since mandatory gender pay gap reporting began in 2018.
The latest government-backed Women in Finance Charter review found that the share of women in leadership roles rose to 36% in 2024 — only one point higher than the previous year.
“For many years, the justification has been that we don’t have enough women at the top, but banks are doing a brilliant job of getting women in at graduate level,” said Pavita Cooper, UK chair of the 30% Club. “Women are not progressing from there to C-suite and C-suite minus one.”
Some 20 firms, including Rothschild & Co, Monzo Bank and Commerzbank AG, missed their 2024 targets for female leadership representation, citing hiring freezes and economic uncertainty.
The growing scrutiny of DEI efforts in the US, spurred by the Trump administration’s criticism of corporate diversity schemes, is also adding pressure.
While UK banks such as HSBC and Barclays have reaffirmed their DEI goals, the language has become less firm, often referring to “ambitions” rather than “targets,” said Yasmine Chinwala, partner at think tank New Financial.
At the current pace of change, parity in senior financial roles is not expected until 2038.
“My key ambition for the Charter is to accelerate the average annual rate of progress beyond one percentage point per year by the end of this parliament,” said UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves, the first woman to hold the role.
With 2025 expected to bring further political and economic volatility, experts warn the year ahead may prove even more challenging for workplace equity in financial services.
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