Jayne-Anne Gadhia: Virgin Money CEO calls for greater action to achieve gender equality in business

Addressing her own experiences as a woman in the still largely male-dominated world of finance, Ms Gadhia said that she had come up against a series of challenges before joining Virgin Money

The chief executive of Virgin Money has called for the creation of a “ministerial board” that would champion the economic benefits of gender diversity.

Speaking to the Treasury Select Committee on Tuesday, Jayne-Anne Gadhia said that a move by City regulators to sign up to the Women in Finance charter had forced many firms to address and start tackling issues around gender equality.

But she added that more still has to be done. She said that there are still companies that have not signed up, and that it is paramount for those firms to commit to the Government-backed charter, which requires them to link executive bonuses to targets such as achieving a 50-50 split of females and males in top jobs.

“We have been really pleased with the impact the charter has had and the thing that I have noticed about it that has been so supportive is that the Treasury and the Chancellor – both George Osborne and Philip Hammond – have taken a personal interest in this. That has been very powerful,” she said.

“The one thing that I would say is – despite all of that – we still have companies that have not signed and we should be doing everything that we can to make sure those that haven’t explain why they haven’t, or sign up,” she added.

Reflecting on her own experiences as a woman in the still largely male-dominated world of finance, Ms Gadhia said that she had come up against a series of challenges before joining Virgin Money.

She recounted being told that she did not have thick enough skin while working at Norwich Union, and also described a particularly male culture and “pervading sexism” that she perceived while employed at Royal Bank of Scotland.

“I remember a very senior woman being very upset one day telling me that she was expected to sleep with her boss,” Ms Gadhia said.

“That sort of thing of course means there are issues for women progressing through financial services.”

Separately on Tuesday, Nicky Morgan, the chairwoman of the Treasury Select Committee, reiterated her earlier calls for more women to be appointed to the top ranks of the Bank of England.

She spoke of the “importance of role models”.

Earlier Ms Morgan said that she had written to Chancellor Hammond requesting evidence to show that necessary efforts are being made to promote diversity in senior BoE roles.

Just one member of the Bank’s current nine-strong Monetary Policy Committee is a woman, following the recent appointment of two new recruits to the interest rate-setting body. Earlier this year, there were two female members on the MPC, but in July Sir Dave Ramsden replaced Charlotte Hogg.

Ms Hogg was forced to resign earlier in the year after failing to declare that her brother worked for Barclays – a bank she would have regulated.