Affinity Capital commits to gender diversity by signing Women in Finance Charter

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Affinity Capital is proud to announce that it has signed the Women in Finance Charter, a government-led commitment to address the gender balance across the UK’s financial services.

The independent financial investment boutique joins over 70 other businesses to make an early pledge to gender equality, including industry giants such as Lloyds Banking Group, Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays, PwC and Schroders.

Under the Women in Finance Charter, which is an HM Treasury initiative, signatories pledge to support the progression of female employees into more senior and executive roles within the industry.

Each company must formulate a strategy for improving diversity throughout their business, and the charter requires participants to publicly report on their progress. Signatories also agree to promote gender equality by:

• Having a senior executive member in charge and accountable for gender inclusion and diversity
• Publishing annual progress reports for HM Treasury’s website
• Establishing internal targets for gender diversity at senior levels
• Agreeing to an intention to link senior executive team salaries to their performance in hitting gender targets

Emma Davidson, Director and CEO at Affinity Capital, said the company is extremely excited to be an early signatory to the charter, which she described as a crucial step forward for equality in financial services.

“We believe the charter is a fantastic initiative that will hopefully enable many future generations of women to have access to greater opportunities in the sector and forge long, successful careers,” she explained.

“We expect the charter to not only open the door to gender diversity but also emphasise the importance of equality across all areas, including race, culture, religion and disability.”

Affinity Capital attended the launch of the charter on Monday July 11th, and Ms Davidson said one of the most encouraging moments of the event was seeing how positive and actively involved men were in promoting the initiative.

Figures from McKinsey & Company show that companies in the top quartile for gender diversity are 15 per cent more likely to have financial returns above the median for the industry than firms in the bottom quartile.

“It was great to see so many men standing up for female equality at the event, and companies are now recognising that diversity isn’t just a political issue, it’s about maximising profits,” Ms Davidson added.

Affinity, along with the other early signatories of the charter, will publish its gender diversity plan in September this year.

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