HM Treasury has launched an 'Investing in Women' code to promote female entrepreneurship among organisations that offer finance. The code follows the launch of a 'Women In Finance Charter', already supported by over 330 firms.
The code and Charter have slightly differing aims and timelines. One aims at improving workplace employment balance and the other promoting finance and support to female entrepreneurs,
The Women in Finance Charter, was the result of the March 2016 consultation, 'Empowering Productivity: Harnessing the talents of women in financial services'. The Charter calls for a gender balance at all levels across financial services firms. It commits them to support:
- the progression of women into senior roles in the financial services sector by focusing on the executive pipeline,
- recognises that firms will have different starting points – each firm should therefore set its own targets and implement the right strategy for their organisation,
- requires firms to publicly report on progress to deliver against these internal targets to support the transparency and accountability needed to drive change.
As of March this year over 330 organisations had signed up to the Charter.
The Investing in Women Code was launched in July 2019. It is a commitment to support the advancement of female entrepreneurship in the UK by improving female entrepreneurs’ access to tools, resources and finance from the financial services sector.
It commits organisations to promoting female entrepreneurship by:
- having a nominated member of the senior leadership team who will be responsible for supporting equality in access to finance,
- increasing the transparency of financial services firms’ data concerning support for female entrepreneurs,
- adopting internal practices to improve the outlook for female entrepreneurs.
Trade bodies are to work closely with their members to establish an agreed set of metrics for understanding the landscape of female entrepreneurship financing and promoting access to the tools, resources, investment and finance they need to build and grow their businesses.
To date 22 organisations have signed up to the new code.
External sources and links
HM Treasury: The Women in Finance Charter,
HM Tresury: The Investing in Women Code
