On 3 February 2020, the European Banking Authority (EBA) published a benchmarking report on diversity practices in credit institutions and investments firms, following on from a previous exercise in 2015.

The Capital Requirements Directive introduced the requirement for institutions to take into account the diversity of the management body when recruiting new members and implement a diversity policy. Significant institutions are required under Article 88(2)(a) of the Directive to set a target for the representation of the under-represented gender in the management body and to take measures to increase their number in the management body to meet that target.

From the data obtained, the EBA found that many institutions (41.61% out of 834) have not adopted a diversity policy. The representation of women in management bodies is still relatively low and many institutions do not have a gender diverse board. The EBA reminds firms that the issue of diversity is not limited to gender; it also concerns the age, professional and educational background, and geographical provenance of the members of the management body.

The EBA also collected data on remuneration for the management body to establish if there is a gender pay gap. In most institutions, the remuneration of male members of the management body is higher than that for female members. This can partly be explained by the fact that only 8.53% of chief executive officers and 9.49% of chairpersons are female, and higher remuneration is usually paid for those functions. However, the different roles alone cannot explain the observed differences in pay.

The EBA calls on institutions and Member States to consider additional measures for promoting a more balanced representation of both genders and on competent authorities to ensure institutions’ compliance with the requirement to adopt diversity policies.