Gender Diversity: The Glass Ceiling Remains Thick at European Banks

DBRS Morningstar has published a new commentary focusing on gender diversity at the board and executive level across 63 banks in Europe.

Gender diversity continues to improve for European banking board of directors, however, women still remain significantly underrepresented in senior leadership positions at European Banks.

On average in 2022, based on a sample of 63 banks in Europe, women represented 38% of board member seats whereas female representation was just 23% for senior executive roles (C-suite roles). The number of female CEOs within the banking sector is even smaller, with only five of the 63 banks being run by a female CEO in 2022.

We believe national gender quotas that have mostly focused on representation in the board room, could be expanded to include senior leadership roles as well.

"Our analysis shows a positive correlation between higher gender diversity at the board level and executive level, suggesting that a higher share of women at the board level has a positive, although a rather slow, effect on the number of women in senior roles," notes Charlotte Cervin, Senior Analyst, European Financial Institutions at DBRS Morningstar.