On Friday 7 March 2025, Luxembourg Sustainable Finance Initiative (LSFI) announced the publication of the Luxembourg Women in Finance (WiF) Charter 2024 Progress Report.

According to the report, in 2024 women made up almost 30% of board members among Women in Finance Charter signatories, up from 27% in 2023 and showing progress towards the targets set by the signatories. The report also provides an overview of women's representation within signatory organisations at different seniority levels, highlighting the targets set and the initiatives undertaken to promote gender balance in the Grand Duchy’s financial centre.

Following a data collection campaign among the WiF Charter signatories run in the fourth quarter of 2024, the Charter's Founders and the LSFI have now released the second edition of the annual Luxembourg WiF Charter report. The report presents an aggregated analysis of the quantitative data collected, alongside insights from qualitative questions to understand developments in gender diversity, best practices and key challenges.

Commenting on the report, LSFI CEO and WiF Charter Data Partner, Nicoletta Centofanti, stated: "Progress begins with measurement. To achieve gender balance, we must understand where we stand, recognise the barriers and explore how organisations are working to overcome these challenges and what is needed to support them.” She added: "The WiF Charter is a key initiative to foster gender balance in Luxembourg and therefore sustainable finance. It not only provides an invaluable picture of where we stand but also supports signatories on their journey by offering insights and workshops aiming to drive meaningful change."

The key quantitative findings detailed in the WiF Charter 2024 Progress Report are as follows:

- Signatories: by December 2024, 78 organisations had signed the Charter (seven more than 2023);
- Sub-sector Distribution: banks represented the largest group of signatories, with 34 organisations, followed by insurance and reinsurance firms with seventeen signatories;
- Total Workforce: signatory organisations employed 29,860 people in 2024, representing approximately 49% of the Luxembourg financial sector’s employees;
- Workforce Composition: women represented 47.2% of total employees, a figure largely unchanged from 2023;
- Leadership Representation: women made up 29.8% of board member (+10% from 2023), 29.9% of executive committee (ExCo)/C-Suite (+13.8% from 2023) and 30.9% of senior management (+4.2% from 2023) positions;
- Contract Types: women continue to hold the majority of part-time positions, with 7.8 out of ten part-time workers being women, a 1% increase since 2023;
- Gender Distribution in Leadership: among all men employed by signatories, one in eight (13%) held a senior leadership role as a board member, ExCo/C-Suite or senior management. Among women employees, this figure stood at one in fifteen (6.5%);
- Targets: by 2024, all signatories had set at least one gender representation target for senior management positions, in line with the Luxembourg WiF Charter commitments. Most targets are to be achieved by 2027, with the average targets being 32.4% for board member, 33.3% for ExCo and 38.1% senior management. Progress towards these targets has been observed across most sub-sectors and seniority levels.

The key qualitative findings detailed in the WiF Charter 2024 Progress Report showed that signatories are actively fostering gender balance through the following:

- promoting an inclusive corporate culture by implementing diversity policies and offering training on inclusion;
- fostering flexible working arrangements, including remote work, parental leave, flexible hours and helping support work-life balance;
- conducting pay reviews and adopting gender-neutral compensation policies to ensure the gender pay gap is closed;
- designing recruitment and promotion processes to ensure fairness, with efforts to attract diverse talent pools and use data-driven tracking for career progression;
- developing leadership and mentorship programmes to encourage women to advance into senior roles;
- monitoring and reporting on diversity metrics, ensuring transparency and accountability in their diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) strategies.

The Women in Finance (WiF) Charter was launched in March 2023 by the Luxembourg Bankers’ Association (ABBL), the Association of the Luxembourg Fund Industry (ALFI), the Association of Insurance and Reinsurance Companies (ACA), the Luxembourg Capital Markets Association (LuxCMA), the Luxembourg Finance Labelling Agency (LuxFLAG) and the Luxembourg Stock Exchange (LuxSE). 

The WiF charter is under the patronage of Luxembourg's Ministry of Finance and the Luxembourg Sustainable Finance Initiative (LSFI) is the coordinating entity and data collection partner. The Luxembourg WiF Charter’s main goal is to enhance gender balance and inclusion within financial institutions, with a particular focus on increasing representation in the three most senior positions (board of directors; executive committee/C-Suite; senior management).

Signatories commit to implementing a set of mandatory and voluntary actions, which are grouped into four pillars:

- promoting the progression of women at all levels, including at senior and board levels;
- appointing an Accountable Executive (AE) who is responsible and accountable for gender diversity and inclusion;
- setting internal targets and action plans which will be integrated into the firm’s goals;
- supporting transparency by publicly reporting on progress against these targets annually on the firm’s website.

The full report can be found at https://lsfi.lu/2024-luxembourg-women-in-finance-wif-charter-report/

SM