At BLME we are taking steps to promote understanding, awareness, and support in addressing social and racial inequality in the UK. We believe that creating and championing a diverse workforce is the right thing to do for our sector and society, as well as being good for our business, customers, profitability and workplace culture. Embedding diversity and inclusion into our business is a core strategic aim of the Bank.
We are a proud signatory of HM Treasury’s Women in Finance Charter and are committed to building a balanced and fair industry.
Championing diversity
We believe that positive, inclusive business cultures should be led from the top and that senior leaders are responsible for setting the tone of a business and are accountable for delivering diversity targets. Our CEO, Andrew Ball, is responsible and accountable for gender diversity and inclusion across our business. Similarly, this responsibility is shared by all members of our Executive Committee. We also encourage all BLME employees to participate in initiatives designed to promote diversity and inclusion, as well as build and maintain an inclusive culture within the Bank.
We are committed to becoming ever more socially responsible and diverse, but recognise it is an ongoing journey to build a balanced organisation and a fairer industry.
The Women in Finance Charter
As part of our approach to diversity and inclusion, BLME is proud to be a signatory organisation of The Women in Finance Charter.
The Women in Finance Charter is a commitment by HM Treasury and signatory firms to work together to create a fairer financial services sector, reflecting the government’s aspiration to see gender balance at all levels within financial services.
Participating businesses are committed to supporting the progression of women into senior roles in the financial services sector. The Charter highlights the importance of businesses being able to set their own targets and implement the right strategy for their organisation. It requires businesses to publicly report on progress to deliver against these internal targets to support the transparency and accountability needed to drive change.
As a signatory organisation, BLME commits to:
- Having one member of our senior executive team who is responsible and accountable for gender diversity and inclusion
- Setting internal targets for gender diversity in senior management
- Provide annual progress reports against these targets
- Demonstrate to HM Treasury how we have linked executive pay to delivery against our gender diversity targets.
BLME’s Women in Finance Pledges
As of 29th September 2021 we had 40% female representation in our senior management population. Looking forward, as a Bank:
- We commit to ensuring 35% of senior management roles are filled by women by end of 2025 (currently c.31%)
- We will aim to achieve 50% female representation across all employees by the end of 2025 (currently c.42%)
- We commit to report on the percentage of men and women promoted each calendar year to keep us even more focused on analysing the way we manage and nurture our female talent. (We are pleased to report that four out of six promotional opportunities have been awarded thus far to women in 2021)
- We will publish our progress against these targets annually
- We have disclosed to HM Treasury how we have linked executive pay to delivery against our gender diversity targets and this will be reported to our Board on an annual basis.
- We wholeheartedly welcome the opportunity to join with others in our sector to commit to making tangible progress to achieving our diversity goals.
Find out more about the Women in Finance Charter here and about BLME’s ESG approach here.
When we signed up to the Charter in September 2021, BLME had 42% female representation in our general employee population.
A year later, and with a 52% increase in the number of employees, we are pleased to report that we have increased this representation by 2% to achieve 44% of women in our workforce.
As of 30 September 2022, we have a 32% female representation in senior management which is a 1% increase on the previous year.
The ’war for talent’ in the UK has made recruitment and retention particularly competitive and challenging. The Bank’s ambitious strategic goals, growth, and transformation agenda also heighten the existing challenges faced.
The progress towards our targets, despite these pressures, is important and most of it is encouraging.
We believe we are on track to meet our Charter target of 50% female representation across all employees by the end of 2025.
We also believe we are on track to achieve our Charter target of 35% of senior management roles are filled by women by end of 2025.
2025 Women in Finance Charter website update
When we signed up to the WiF Charter in 2021, we pledged to have 35% of senior management roles filled by women by the end of 2025. We’re thrilled that we have achieved and exceeded this goal, with 37% of these roles now held by talented female colleagues as at the end of September 2025.
We know there is always more to do to increase women’s representation in the financial services sector. But we are proud to reach this milestone, and look forward to continuing to work towards gender parity across the business.
45% of our employees are women – up from 43% in 2024. While our overall headcount has decreased, we are pleased that we have been able to increase the proportion of female staff.
Whilst we had set ourselves an internal target of 50% female representation by the end of 2025 (outside of our HMT WiF commitments), we have not been able to achieve this yet but we remain committed to exploring how we can do so in the future.
In 2026 we will continue to strive not just to bring more women into roles, but to make sure women in BLME and our tech colleagues feel supported and encouraged at every level, through initiatives including our enhanced menopause treatment plans and quarterly women in finance and fintech series.
2024 Women in Finance Charter website update
In 2024, we hit 33% female senior managers, an increase of 3 percentage points from the previous year. We are pleased to have increased this figure, and are confident we can hit the target of 35% next year. We have maintained a 43% representation of women in our overall workforce.
Ensuring that women and their partners are able to take flexible parental leave has long been an ambition for us at BLME. That’s why this year we were thrilled to introduce our new enhanced flexible maternity leave benefit, providing employees with the option to have a year of fully paid maternity leave. The new benefit offers over three times as many fully paid weeks as the majority of UK business, and more than any major high-street bank. It also includes a ‘return to work bonus’ after 6 months of resuming regular working arrangements.
We announced this amidst research from the Office for National Statistics showing that Britain’s employment rate remains higher for men than women, with UK males working over 150 million (25%) more hours than women each week. We want to make sure that our female staff face a minimised impact of having a baby on their employees’ career trajectory, confidence, and earning potential, by removing barriers that male counterparts are less likely to face.
BLME– Women in Finance Statement 2023
In the 12 months to 30 September 2023, BLME has significantly expanded its workforce. We are pleased that, as the team has grown, the percentage of women in senior leadership has also kept pace.
This growth in overall headcount has necessitated a 43% increase in the number of senior leaders within the Bank. As we have increased the scale of the Bank’s leadership, we have kept our targets around female representation front of mind and, as a result, have maintained the proportion of women in these senior roles at 30%.
We have also worked hard to ensure that as we have grown our workforce, we have maintained a 43% representation of women. 64% of promotions which have taken place during the 2023 calendar year have been awarded to women. Overall, this demonstrates our commitment to ensuring diversity across all levels of the Bank.
We believe we’re firmly on track to achieve our Charter target of 35% of senior management roles filled by women by the end of 2025. We are also on track to meet our Charter target of 50% female representation across all employees by the end of 2025.
It is an incredibly exciting time to be at the Bank. Our digital bank, Nomo, continues to grow and as does our presence in the GCC with our DIFC branch and BLME Capital Company. We will continue to strive to bring more women into roles at every level, creating a diversity of thought that allows us to provide the best products and services for our clients.