The number of women on the governing bodies of Portugal’s seven largest banks will reach a third by 2022, but the majority will hold non-executive positions, according to data released this Tuesday by the Bank of Portugal (BdP).
According to the banking regulator, at the end of 2022, 33.3% of the members of the administrative and supervisory bodies were women, which is a significant evolution compared to the end of 2018, when it was set at 19%.
In a more detailed picture of this data, the weight of women in the supervisory bodies of the seven largest institutions in Portugal was 35.14% and in the board of directors 35.56%, compared to 16.67% and 20% respectively in 2018 .
However, the majority of women hold non-executive positions in supervisory and administrative bodies: 38.5% – compared to 24.4% of executive positions at the end of 2022.
Of the seven systemic institutions in Portugal, Caixa Económica Montepio Geral is the most equal, while Novo Banco is the least equal.
BdP’s analysis shows that all credit institutions in Portugal have strengthened gender diversity in their administrative and supervisory bodies.
The percentage of women in these bodies of credit institutions has increased from 20.2% at the end of 2018 to 32.6% in 2022.
Nevertheless, the BdP warns that “credit institutions are still a long way from gender equality in the composition of their governing bodies, an objective that requires attention from institutions and supervisors”.
The regulator emphasizes that “in most institutions there is still a substantial difference between the proportion of female and male people who hold positions in the respective governing bodies”.
BdP data shows that the percentage of women in supervisory bodies in 2022 was equivalent to 40.2% (up from 27.8% in 2018) and 26.6% in management bodies (up from 14.3% in 2018).
However, this data is significantly influenced by the universe of Crédito Agrícola, where the greatest increase in gender diversity was recorded, as in 2022 there were 35.2% women in the governing bodies.
If we focus the analysis on the universe of 27 banks, with a total of 314 members, the percentage of women in the management and supervisory bodies of these institutions corresponded to 24.2% in 2022, compared to 15.8% at the end of 2018.
Here too, the percentage of women in supervisory bodies was higher in 2022 (29.4%) than in management (21.7%).
Despite an improvement compared to 2018 (15.1%), the majority of female office holders in banks still hold non-executive positions (28.8%).
This percentage is higher for the supervisory bodies, rising to 29.4%, compared to 21.7% for the administrative bodies at the end of 2022.
The BdP explains that its intervention in this matter mainly consisted of assessing the suitability of the members of the governing bodies of credit institutions (fit and beat).
The regulator expects “credit institutions to assume a representation of more than 33% of the underrepresented sex in their gender diversity policy”.
“In addition to knowledge and gender diversity, institutions must also take into account other aspects in their respective policies and in the composition of their governing bodies”refers.
Source: DN
