Ireland’s Women in Finance Charter – reaches milestone of 100 signatories
6th January 2025
Ireland’s Women in Finance Charter has reached 100 signatories, a key milestone as firms in the financial services sector seek to boost female representation among staff, management and boards.
Firms signed up to the Charter account for over 65,000 employees – representing half of all employees in the financial services sector. Signatory firms commit to setting targets for increased female representation, and substantial progress has been made in this regard since the Charter was launched in April 2022.
An annual report on the Charter is compiled by the ESRI and the second such report was released in 2024. It showed that among the first cohort of signatories, female representation on boards increased to 39pc at the beginning of 2024, up from 33pc at the same time in 2022.
On executive committees, the figure increased to 37pc, up from 33pc in 2022. 25pc of CEOs among these original firms were female, an increase of four percentage points since 2022.
Looking at the Charter signatories as a whole, female representation has grown at senior management level (37pc to 41pc), Executive Committee level (30pc to 34pc), CEO (22pc to 26pc), and Board level (35pc to 39pc).
Encouragingly, the increase in female representation is not only confined to the highest echelons of a firm. For example, those firms who have signed up to the Charter in 2023 have recorded improvements at junior management level, with representation increasing from 43pc at the start of 2023 to 52pc at the start of 2024.
Data from the 2024 Annual Report highlighted that more than a third of all signatory firms believe that ‘female career development/leadership training’ is the most effective action to improve gender balance.
Fiona Gallagher, CEO Wells Fargo Bank International and Chair of the Women in Finance Charter, said:
“Reaching the milestone of 100 signatories is testament to the drive and determination the industry has in ensuring our sector is diverse and inclusive.
We have seen excellent progress over the last two years, as evidenced by our 2024 Annual Report. We know there is more to do, and our attention continues to focus on ensuring that we continue to grow the number of signatories and support them in reaching the gender targets they have set. Achieving more signatories is vital to ensuring we improve representation in our sector, and meaningfully move the dial. I would call on those who aren’t yet signatories, and particularly their senior leadership, to make this a priority for 2025”.
Ireland’s Women in Finance Charter is a joint initiative by Financial Services Ireland, Banking & Payments Federation Ireland, Irish Funds, and Insurance Ireland, and is supported by the Government.
Pictured: Fiona Gallagher, CEO Wells Fargo Bank International and Chair of the Women in Finance Charter.
