HSBC UK is upping the ante on its gender equality initiatives by announcing a new "50/50 recruitment target" to have half of senior management roles occupied by women. Britain's biggest lender revealed the new policy this morning, saying that while female employees account for 54 per cent of HSBC UK’s overall workforce, women are "significantly underrepresented at a senior management level, reflecting a wider trend across the financial services sector". The bank said that less than one-third of its senior manager roles are currently held by women. According to the British Bankers' Association (BBA), just 21 per cent of senior manager roles at FTSE 100 banks are held by women. Commenting on the bank's new policy, HSBC chief executive Antonio Simoes said: "We have the opportunity to build a different type of bank through the creation of HSBC UK, which is more responsive to customer needs and fully reflects the diversity of society. Our aspiration is to achieve gender parity at all levels of the bank and to create a true meritocracy where everyone has the opportunity to develop their career, regardless of their background, age, gender, sexual orientation, ability, ethnicity or beliefs. "It’s completely unacceptable that in 2015, women are still significantly under represented at a senior management level across the financial services industry. We are committed to putting that right at HSBC UK." HSBC UK said it will roll out a number of initiatives to help it reach its 50/50 target, including a new "professional returners" programme for job candidates who have been out of the workplace to care for children or other family members. The bank also said it will implement the government-backed "name blind" CV initiative, by considering applications without seeing the job-seeker's name in order to avoid any bias. Other initiatives include requiring recruiters to provide candidate shortlists with half men and half women, as well as a new intra-company leadership development programme to support female and ethnic minority senior managers. [custom id="21"]
HSBC UK has announced a new "50/50 recruitment target" to have half of senior management roles occupied by women. Fewer than one-third of HSBC’s current senior managers are women. According to the British Bankers' Association (BBA), just 21% of senior manager roles at FTSE 100 banks are held by women. HSBC will implement the government-backed "name blind" CV initiative and will seek to encourage women who have been out of the workplace to become “professional returners”. The company will require recruiters to provide shortlists composed of half men and half women. In an interview with BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Mr Gulliver said that he was committed to increasing female representation in top jobs.