Female directors at Britain’s financial services firms were paid 66% less than males, with many in non-executive roles, revealed a report by Fox & Partners on Monday.
The data showed that there is still a significant pay gap between men and women at the highest levels in the financial sector.
Average pay for female directors at financial services companies stands at £247,100, 66% lower than the average £722,300 paid to male directors, according to the research.
The vast majority (86%) of the female company directors occupy non-executive roles, according to the research, which tend to be lower paid than executive positions.
The Fox & Partners research also showed how many firms are willing to give non-executive roles to women to improve board diversity, but are not appointing them to better-remunerated leadership positions.
Only 15% of female directors are in executive roles.
“Boards need to be open to challenging themselves by asking honest questions about the barriers in their organisation that might prevent women reaching the very top,” said Catriona Watt, a partner at Fox & Partners.
“To see long-term change, firms must be committed to taking steps that will lead to more women progressing through the ranks, getting into senior executive positions and closing the pay gap,” she said.
An option for firms as a first step is to sign up to the Treasury’s Women in Finance charter and pledge to have one member of the senior executive team who is responsible and accountable for gender diversity and inclusion and set internal targets for gender diversity in our senior management.
Companies should also publish progress annually against these targets in reports on their website.
