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Women in Finance Charter

The West Brom is a signatory to the Women in Finance Charter, an initiative led by HM Treasury to support the progression of women into senior roles within the financial services sector. The Charter reflects the government’s aspiration to see gender balance at all levels across financial services firms.

Our Executive sponsor in this area is Jonathan Westhoff, the Society's Chief Executive.

In Oct 2016 we set ourselves the following two targets for female representation, to be achieved by the end of 2020:

  • 30% of the Society’s Board will be female
  • 30% of the positions occupied in the senior management population will be female

Having achieved these targets in 2020, we set ourselves the following two stretched targets, to be achieved by the end of 2024

  • 40% of the Society’s Board will be female
  • 40% of the positions occupied in the senior management population will be female

Updates on our progress

 

November 2023

The Society finishes 2023 in a great position having achieved our target of 40% female representation at Board level in advance of our 2024 deadline with a current position of 42%.

We are also extremely close to achieving our senior manager target of 40% female representation with a current position of 39%.

Overall, a great year for progress for the Society.

November 2022

As 2022 closes, the Society remains in a strong position with female board representation maintained at 40%. Representation at senior management level is also heading in the right direction increasing from 30% to 36% as we continue to work towards our stretched target of 40% by 2024.

November 2021

The West Brom first signed up to the Charter in October 2016 with two targets for female representation to be achieved by the end of 2020 -  that 30% of the Society’s Board would be female, and that of those occupying positions in the senior management population 30% would female.  By November 2020 we were in a strong position, having exceeded both targets at that point with female representation at Board level standing at 38% and the proportion of females in senior management at 34%.  Female representation at Board level currently stands at 40% and the proportion of females in senior management at 30%.

5 years on from becoming a signatory, the Society remains committed to the Charter and to increasing female representation at senior levels.  We are currently developing our revised Diversity and Inclusion strategy to enable us to work towards 40% of senior management being female, our revised headline target.  We believe this revised target to be a further move in the right direction to work towards over the next 3 years, by the end of 2024.

November 2020

As the end of 2020 approaches we are in a strong position, exceeding both our targets. Female representation at Board level stands at 38% and the proportion of females in senior management has increased to 34%.

We remain committed to further increasing female representation at senior levels with an ongoing focus on diverse recruitment practices and talent programmes to support development. We will also be refreshing and refining our diversity targets for the coming year.

September 2019

With just over a year to go until our stated date for delivery, the West Brom continues to make strong progress in terms of broadening female representation. Our target for representation at Board level has already been exceeded and now stands at 38%.

Within our senior management population, we are well progressed in meeting our target with current representation of 29%. We are confident this can be achieved within the timeframe we have set ourselves.

A further consideration in this area is how we define a senior management role. As well as Divisional Directors and departmental heads, we are reviewing whether key decision makers in a number of wider leadership roles with managerial responsibilities should also be incorporated into our reporting metrics.

November 2018

Twelve months ago, and a year after first signing up to the Charter, we had 11% female representation on our Board and 22% within our senior management population. Female representation has increased against both targets and now stands at 22% for the Board and 32% within our senior manager population.

We are pleased to be on track to meet/maintain our Charter targets by our stated deadline of the end of 2020.

November 2017

In October 2016, the Society made a public commitment and became a signatory of the Women in Finance Charter. Since then we have developed and introduced our Diversity and Inclusion Strategy and are actively implementing some of our new initiatives to support achieving what we feel are attainable targets for 2020.

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