On International Women's Day, the Luxembourg Women in Finance Charter was launched with 69 signatories, which include the country's leading financial services firms, to improve gender diversity in the Luxembourg financial centre.

At a Ring the Bell to mark International Women's Day at the Luxembourg Stock Exchange, the Luxembourg Women in Finance Charter was launched by its founding partners ABBL, ALFI, ACA, LuxCMA, LuxFLAG, under the patronage of the Ministry of Finance, and in the presence of the first signatories, which include the European Investment Bank and the European Investment Fund.

By signing the Charter, financial sector companies underline their ambition to make the financial centre more inclusive and encourage the representation of women at all levels. This also plays a key role in addressing the growing need for talent that the sector faces.

Under the Charter, signatory financial institutions commit to designating an executive within their firm that will be responsible and accountable for gender diversity and inclusion, and commit 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 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 the Luxembourg Stock Exchange.

Given the size and international role of the financial centre, Luxembourg and its financial services industry is fully aware of their responsibility in promoting gender diversity. With more than 60'000 women and men employed in the financial sector and related services, the financial industry is also one of the largest employers in the country and can therefore play an important leadership role by setting the right examples. While Luxembourg has the lowest gender pay gap in the EU, it is still a long way to go in order to increase the share of women in middle management and senior leadership positions.

Minister 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."

An important part of this journey to increase gender balance in senior management will be the monitoring of progress. The annual reporting that is foreseen will strengthen each signatory organization's sense of commitment and allow us to collectively take stock to see if the financial centre's ambitions are on target. The Ministry of Finance, working with the financial sector associations, will support the publication of a yearly progress report based on the individual target setting.

The Ministry of Finance 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 the Luxembourg Stock Exchange of the first Sub-Saharan gender bond ever issued.

Released by the Ministry of Finance