The European Banking Authority reports persistent gender imbalances and pay gaps in EU banking management, especially at senior levels, despite some progress since 2021. The EBA urges institutions and authorities to enhance diversity practices.
The European Banking Authority (EBA) has published its benchmarking analysis on diversity practices in over 850 credit institutions and investment firms across the European Union (EU). As of December 31, 2024, significant gender imbalances and pay gaps remain, particularly at senior management levels, despite improvements since 2021.
The report highlights that around 20% of institutions lack diversity policies, and only 67% have set quantitative targets for gender representation. Nearly half of institutions have no women among their executive directors, and women represent only 12% of CEOs across the EU. Women are better represented in supervisory roles but remain underrepresented in leadership positions.
Male executive directors earn approximately 10% more than female counterparts on average, indicating shortcomings in gender-neutral remuneration policies. A positive correlation exists between gender balance and return on equity (RoE), supporting the importance of diversity practices.
The EBA calls on institutions to promote balanced gender representation and on authorities to continue assessing diversity and pay gap practices during supervisory reviews. The EBA will further monitor developments, improve data collection, and enhance data quality to facilitate more timely benchmarking results.
Since 2015, the EBA has collected data on diversity policies and management body composition, including gender, age, origin, and background. The report includes interactive visualizations on gender distribution, diversity policy implementation, and pay gaps. The gender pay gap is defined as the difference between average gross hourly earnings of men and women, expressed as a percentage of men’s earnings, without adjustments for experience or qualifications.
