69 Financial Services Actors Sign Up to Luxembourg Women in Finance Charter

On International Women’s Day, Wednesday 8 March  2023, Luxembourg’s Ministry of Finance announced the launch of the Luxembourg Women in Finance Charter, with 69 signatories pledging to help improve gender diversity in Luxembourg's financial centre.

At a "Ring the Bell" ceremony to mark International Women’s Day at the Luxembourg Stock Exchange (LuxSE), the founding partners ABBL, ALFI, ACA, LuxCMA and LuxFLAG launched the Luxembourg Women in Finance Charter, under the patronage of the Ministry of Finance, in the presence of the first signatories, which included the European Investment Bank and the European Investment Fund.

According to Luxembourg's Ministry of Finance, signing the charter highlights financial sector institutions' ambition to include and encourage women to be represented at all levels; the ministry added that this would play a key role in addressing the growing need for talent in the sector.

Under the charter, signatory financial institutions commit to designating an executive within their firm to account for gender diversity and inclusion and to setting voluntary targets to achieve greater gender balance within their firm, notably at executive and senior management level, and to publicly report on progress towards the set targets.

Signatories to the Luxembourg Women in Finance Charter span across the breadth of the financial sector and include leading banks, asset managers and insurance firms in Luxembourg as well as LuxSE.

The Ministry of Finance stressed the importance of this initiative, referring to its own responsibility in promoting gender diversity, given the size and international role of the financial sector and related services in Luxembourg. More than 60,000 people work in the sector in Luxembourg today, making the financial industry one of the largest employers in the country. According to the ministry, this action may incentivise other sectors to follow suit.

While Luxembourg was reported to have the lowest gender pay gap in the EU, the ministry noted that there was still a way to go to increase the share of women in middle management and senior leadership positions.

Luxembourg’s Minister of Finance, Yuriko Backes, said: "Gender equality is not just a social issue. Diversity and gender equality are macro-critical and make economic sense: more diversity leads to better decision-making and better economic outcomes for companies and for society. This is why, as Minister of Finance, I have decided to champion the creation of a national Women in Finance Charter, and act as its patron, with the aim to achieve greater gender balance in the financial sector. I congratulate the founding partners on this lighthouse initiative and I invite financial sector companies in Luxembourg to join the 69 signatories that have signed up today on this important journey."

The annual progress monitoring with regard to the increasing gender balance in senior management will constitute an important part of this process. The Ministry of Finance announced that it would support the charter by means of the publication of a yearly progress report based on the individual target setting. The ministry supports the charter as part of its overall strategy to promote greater gender diversity in the financial sector and gender finance more broadly. The launch of the charter also coincided with the listing on LuxSE of the first Sub-Saharan gender bond issued to date.

The signatories were: ABBL; ACA; ALFI; Allianz Life; Amundi Luxembourg SA; APEX Group Luxembourg; Attrax Financial Services SA, Luxembourg; AXA Assurances Luxembourg (Non-Vie and Vie); AXA Wealth Europe; Bank Julius Baer Europe; Banque de Commerce et de Placements SA (Luxembourg branch); Banque de Luxembourg; Banque et Caisse d'Épargne de l'État (BCEE/Spuerkeess); Banque Internationale à Luxembourg SA (BIL); Banque Raiffeisen; Banque Transatlantique Luxembourg SA; BGL BNP Paribas SA; CA Indosuez Wealth (Europe); Caceis Bank (Luxembourg Branch); Cardif Lux Vie; CIBC Capital Markets (Europe) SA; Clearstream Banking SA; Clearstream Fund Services SA; Clearstream Services SA; CNA Insurance Company (Europe) SA; DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale (Luxembourg branch); Deutsche Bank Luxembourg SA; DZ Privatbank SA; Edmond de Rothschild (Europe); EFG Bank (Luxembourg) SA; European Depositary Bank SA; European Investment Bank (EIB); European Investment Fund (EIF); Fidelity International Group, Luxembourg (Fidelity (Holdings) SA; Fidelity International (Luxembourg) SA; Fidelity International Investment Management (Luxembourg) SA); Foresight Group Luxembourg SA; Franklin Templeton International Services SARL; FundsDLT; GENERALI Luxembourg; GLOBALITY SA; Groupe Foyer (Foyer Assurances; Foyer Vie; Foyer Santé; Foyer-ARAG; Foyer Luxembourg Ré; WEALINS; Raiffeisen Vie; Europ Assistance); Hines Luxembourg Investment Management SARL; HSBC Continental Europe, Luxembourg; ING Luxembourg SA; Intertrust Group (Luxembourg) SARL; Intesa Sanpaolo Bank Luxembourg SA; Itau BBA Europe SA, (Luxembourg Branch); John Deere Bank SA; Lombard Odier (Europe) SA; LuxCMA; LuxCSD; Luxembourg Stock Exchange (LuxSE); LuxFlag; M&G Luxembourg SA; Mirabaud & Cie (Europe) SA; Northern Trust Global Services SE; Quintet Private Bank (Europe) SA; RBC Investor Services Bank SA; RSA Luxembourg SA; Société Générale Luxembourg; SWISS RE Groupe (iptiQ Emea; iptiQ Life; SWISS RE; SWISS RE Europe); Swissquote Bank Europe SA; The Shipowners’ Mutual Protection and Indemnity Association (Luxembourg); TMF Luxembourg SA; TMF Fund Management SA; Union Investment Luxembourg SA; VP Bank (Luxembourg) SA; VP Fund Solutions (Luxembourg) SA; Zurich Eurolife.