Broker Diversity Push – How can the industry correct its gender imbalance in management roles?

Across the financial services industry (measured by looking at the FCA’s full remit) the figure was a low 15.81%, but that number is still better than in broking. There are fewer women in key broking regulated senior management roles than there were in 2020.

At the end of 2020, there were 1958 women in the cohort of FCA-approved senior management functions. But by the end of August 2022, the figure had dropped to 1892. The number of men in the same roles also fell across the two periods by 339.

However, this still left 10,081 men in the posts, and it meant the percentage of men in these roles stayed the same at 83.67%.

While the drop in men in these roles came with a stable percentage, women saw their proportion of jobs drop from 15.72% to 15.7%.

These were among the headline revelations from a Freedom of Information request to the FCA that asked for the current number of men and women in six senior roles at the end of 2021 and the end of 2020. The roles were chosen as the senior manager functions for core firms, as set out by the regulator.

There have been numerous initiatives and public statements on the situation over the past two years, but this is the starkest set of data yet revealed on the broking market, and the direction of travel is clearly wrong.

Time for action

So why is this the case – and what actions are needed? At the end of 2022 Insurance Age launched its campaign: Broker Diversity Push – Gender Leadership Gap to encourage debate, discussion and call on the relevant bodies to consider the creation of an industry benchmark to help generate positive actions and change.

Among those to support the campaign so far is Sam White, founder of Freedom of Services Group, who, in reflecting on the data, said: “I’m not hugely surprised, but it is, of course, crushingly disappointing.

“I don’t have a problem recruiting senior women into [my business] Stella. It is blatantly obvious to me that how you brand your business, and the messaging you give about the company will make a huge difference with regards to recruitment. It is something as an industry we don’t really want to acknowledge.”

“I think most of us working within the sector would say these figures are of course disappointing, but it’s important to note that they are certainly not a reflection of the amount of work going on behind the scenes to try to improve gender diversity across the board,” added Ardonagh chief financial officer Diane Cougill.

At Ardonagh, 25% of SMFs are female – and that figure has risen. We’re proud of the progress we’re making, but we acknowledge it’s not high enough.

Diane Cougill

“At Ardonagh, 25% of SMFs are female – and that figure has risen. We’re proud of the progress we’re making, but we acknowledge it’s not high enough. We all know there is still work to be done, and that change won’t happen overnight, but we need to recognise this as an issue across the whole industry so we can all work together to improve the representation of women at more senior levels.”

“There is a very good reason why all businesses have such exacting financial packs and that is because what gets measured gets done. If you don’t manage the finances properly it all goes wrong, former Chartered Insurance Institute CEO Sian Fisher concluded. 

“Historically, there hasn’t been that same level of regular and rigorous measurement of the people situation, and if we really want to change that you do have to first of all declare where you are and keep measuring it.

To keep up with the latest news on the Broker Diversity Push check out www.insuranceage.co.uk/topics/broker-diversity-push