Few Women Hold Leadership Roles in Germany’s Financial Services Sector: Study

Women occupied only around 9 percent of top management jobs in Germany’s finance industry in 2017, and the pace at which the gender gap is narrowing has slowed in recent years, according to a study on Wednesday.

Only one of Germany’s larger private banks was chaired by a woman last year, down from two in 2016, according to the study by the German Institute for Economic Research, or DIW.

That position is held by Carola Graefin von Schmettow, of HSBC Trinkhaus & Burkhardt.

“In no other industry is it so unlikely for women to reach a position at the level of the board or just beneath,” DIW said in its report, which encompasses 100 top banks and 60 large insurers.

The paucity of women in leadership roles contrasts sharply with the broader financial sector workforce. For years, bank and insurance staff have hovered at around 60 percent women, the study said.

In Germany’s banking sector, women accounted for 8.9 percent of top management jobs last year, compared with 8.2 percent in 2016. At insurers, the gender gap actually widened in 2017, with the proportion of women in top jobs at 9.3 percent versus 9.8 percent a year earlier.

(Reporting by Tom Sims; editing by Maria Sheahan)