BNP Paribas Aiming for 50% Female Hires in UK Investment Bank

BNP Paribas, the renowned French international bank, has announced that it would ensure that 50% of new hires in its UK investment bank be women. As mentioned in Financial News’ post, this target is particular to the UK global banking business and is consistent with a previous goal set for entry-level roles.

This promise follows a historic case in which Stacey Macken, an employee in BNP Paribas' prime brokerage group, successfully sued the bank two years ago for gender-based wage discrimination. Following the legal action, the bank is now required to proactively identify and address any existing gender pay discrepancies.

BNP Paribas intends to first focus on attaining gender parity at the analyst and associate levels, with larger goals of inclusiveness across all hierarchical levels within the company. Emmanuelle Bury-Lucas, BNP Paribas' UK national head, stressed the importance of diversity in the bank's business and HR strategies. This includes significant investments in people and leadership development programs, stringent promotions procedures, and ongoing monitoring of critical KPIs.

This action by BNP Paribas reflects a larger industry recognition of the need for further efforts to overcome gender gaps in top positions. According to a recent Financial News report, barely 10% of managing director and partner-level dealmakers at Europe's biggest investment banks are women, highlighting the ongoing problems of attaining gender equality in the financial sector.