Research by DBRS Morningstar, using a sample of 43 European banks, has shown that women represented an average 37% of board member seats in 2021. That percentage decreased to 26% when considering women on executive management teams. Only five of the 43 banks had a female CEO and only four had a female chair of the board.
Gender diversity at board level was found to be gradually improving, from 22% in 2014 to 37% in 2021, but is inconsistent across different countries. For example, Nordic states head the list with Denmark leading the field at 55%. Germany and Portugal have the lowest female board representation at 29% and 23%, respectively.
