Global management consulting firm Oliver Wyman has released its inaugural report titled Women in Financial Services, which analysed the gender diversity of 150 international firms.
Oliver Wyman found female representatives on financial company boards had increased over the last 10 years, although female representation at the executive committee level still remains much lower.
“This is a problem for the financial services industry. A lack of senior staff diversity is bad for business – bad for employee morale, bad for customer service and bad for shareholder returns,” the report from Oliver Wyman said.
“A growing body of research suggests that firms with diverse management teams make better decisions, being less prone to groupthink and more able to see issues from many angles,” the report said.
“This is especially important in a sector that has recently suffered scandals attributed to unchallenged leadership and groupthink,” it said.
The report also highlighted that the biggest challenge in improving leadership diversity standards in financial companies lies in changing the stereotypes, assumptions and biases about what is required for leadership and success that “permeate the culture” of financial institutions.
“The senior management of financial firms have always been almost exclusively men and they remain the strongly dominant group,” the report said.
“This means that what is in fact a gender-based bias may be perceived by most senior managers to be no more than common-sense meritocracy,” it said.
“These assumptions relate to both day-to-day working practices and also the qualities required for leadership,” the report said.
