EY signs Women in Finance Charter

EY has signed the HM Treasury’s Women in Finance Charter, which aims to drive diversity in the financial service industry.

Signatories pledge to promote greater gender diversity within their organisation by: supporting the progression of women into senior roles by focusing on the executive pipeline, setting their own internal targets, and publicly reporting on progress.

This week EY announced the appointment of their first female as Head of Financial Services in Scotland.

Sue Dawe, EY’s new head of financial services in Scotland and the regions including Bristol, Leeds and Manchester, as well as the firm’s Edinburgh Office Managing Partner, said: “As a signatory to the charter, we join arms with other organisations to help build a more balanced industry for the future. United in purpose, the charter brings focus, direction and accountability to help drive real change across financial services. We welcome the opportunity to share our own best practice and to learn from others to accelerate gender equity.

“Organisations that live and breathe diversity and inclusion know the positive impact it has on business performance; it delivers competitive advantage. Creating an inclusive environment where everyone can achieve their potential remains firmly front and centre of our business strategy.”

EY employs a number of progressive initiatives to help accelerate gender equity in the workplace, including: rolling out inclusive leadership training across the UK to challenge unconscious bias, formal sponsorship programmes – CareerWatch – for high potential women and BME talent, and enabling flexible working at every level of the organisation.