The UK finance industry says it’s equal—the numbers say otherwise

Apr 06, 2025

The gender pay gap in UK finance is holding steady.

Despite years of DEI pledges and glowing reports, women are still paid significantly less than men, and few are making it to the top.

Here are the numbers:

Women earned 78p for every £1 earned by men in 2024
At the top five UK banks, women earned just 67p per £1.

In investment banking, the gap is even worse:
• Goldman Sachs: 50.4%
• J.P. Morgan: 48%
• Morgan Stanley: 46%

What’s going wrong?

Despite flashy hiring schemes and inclusion programs, the real shift hasn’t come:

Women now hold 36% of senior roles in financial services, according to the latest HM Treasury Women in Finance Charter review.
- That’s only 1 point higher than last year.
Progress has slowed right down—and it’s been like that for years.

“Frankly unacceptable,” said Amanda Blanc, CEO of Aviva and Women in Finance Charter Champion, as per Reuters.

Pay gaps by the numbers

HSBC had the worst gender pay gap among the top UK banks in 2024 at nearly 41%—and it widened last year.
Standard Chartered’s gap also worsened, while only Barclays made noticeable gains, narrowing the gap by 4 points.

And that’s just gender.

The ethnicity pay gap widened for black employees at HSBC, Barclays, and Standard Chartered.

The DEI backlash is real

Pressure from the Trump administration is fuelling a quiet retreat from DEI:

Some banks, including UBS, have already removed DEI targets from their public reporting.
UK institutions are following suit—swapping ‘targets’ for softer language like ‘goals’ or ‘aspirations.’

“It may be that language changes again, and that strategy changes will influence how targets are being communicated or whether companies have targets at all,” Yasmine Chinwala of think tank, New Financial, as per Bloomberg.

Why it matters

Pay gap reporting in the UK doesn't reflect ‘equal pay for equal work’—it shows who holds the top-paying jobs.
Women are still overrepresented in low-paid roles and underrepresented in leadership.
At this pace, women won’t reach pay parity in senior roles until 2038, according to New Financial.

And 20 firms—including Monzo, Rothschild & Co, and Commerzbank - missed their 2024 targets for female leadership.

Many blamed hiring freezes and restructuring. But how long are women expected to keep waiting?

The bottom line

The UK's financial sector says it wants more women at the top. But the numbers say otherwise. This is more than a gender issue—it’s a business risk.

The cost of inaction isn’t abstract—it’s measurable: in lost earnings, missed innovation, and underperforming leadership teams.

Quite simply: closing the gap isn’t a moral imperative—it’s a growth strategy.

We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with Jana via the The Purse website or tweet @jointhepurse and janicka. We do no provide investment advice. Please do your own research or speak to a financial adviser.

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