Women in Finance Charter

At Redwood Bank, we believe that having a diverse workforce and inclusive culture that acknowledges and supports individual differences is crucial.

We champion equality and inclusion, ensuring that all roles are open to everyone, regardless of gender – it really is about the sum of a number of talented individuals coming together with a shared vision.

A pledge for gender balance across financial services

The Women in Finance Charter, introduced by HM Treasury as a pledge for signatory firms to work together to help build greater gender balance in financial services, was created to reflect the Government’s aspiration to see gender balance throughout the industry.

Published in March 2016, it commits firms to supporting the progression of women into senior roles by focusing on the executive pipeline and the mid-tier level, as well as including a number of other pledges to promote gender diversity.

As a signatory to the HM Treasury Women in Finance Charter, Redwood Bank is committed to implementing the recommendations of the Charter regarding improvements to the Bank's gender diversity and inclusion.

Current initiatives

Promoting and supporting diversity is an important aspect of good people management and we want it to be an integral part of our culture, values, behaviours and the way we do business. It offers tangible benefits for both our employees and customers. The Bank has already begun this journey through:

• Creating a culture of inclusion;
• Succession planning, with development programmes and coaching for all critical positions in order to ensure a continuity of leadership;
• Documenting behaviours that support our values, which are assessed along with objectives in equal measures;
• Implementing strategies for increasing inclusiveness through employee participation/resource groups;
• Flexible working arrangements that support both male and female employees;
• A mentoring programme;
• An Emerging Talent Rotational programme;
• Introducing people policies and practices which address unconscious bias in the workplace, including in recruitment and selection processes;
• Providing a sound and fair working environment where staff can grow and develop;
• Executive coaching to staff across the business (linked to the succession plan).
• Promoting participation in Women's Networking Groups (internally and externally)

Activity update December 2024

We endorse the aspiration to achieve a gender balance and diverse workforce across the Bank, as this is an integral part of our culture, values and behaviours, and the way we do business. 

With this in mind, in October 2019 Redwood Bank became a signatory to the Women in Finance Charter - a commitment by HM Treasury and financial institutions to work together to build a more balanced and fair industry.

To meet that commitment, we set our target of having at least 30% female representation at "Senior Management Level" by the end of December 2023. (Senior Management Level is defined as members of the Board, Executive Committee and Heads of Departments.)

We are proud that we exceeded this target in 2023 with the proportion of women in senior management roles increasing from 20% in 2019 to 34% at the end of August 2023.

We continue to make good progress with our latest results showing 39% of women in senior management roles at the end of August 2024.

While we have achieved our target, we will continue to address diversity within our senior leadership population and take a holistic approach to addressing diversity throughout the organisation. We want to make lasting change across our whole business, not just at the top, and this takes time, we will continue to take action that will bring continued progress.