Fewer females on EU finance firm boards, EY survey finds

Europe’s largest financial services firms have 7% fewer women year-on-year, down from 51% to 44%

Colin Ryan, EY Ireland financial services country lead.

Female board director appointments to Europe’s largest financial services firms have declined by 7% year-on-year, according to a new EY survey.

The latest EY European Financial Services Boardroom Monitor has found that 44% of all appointments last year were of women, down from 51% in 2022.

The EY report charts board directors across the MSCI European Financials Index, including in Ireland, with added data from a sentiment survey of 300 European financial services investors. In all, 82% of respondents state that boardroom gender diversity has a significant influence on their decision to invest.

Colin Ryan, EY Ireland financial services country lead, said: “Building a diverse board with the requisite experience to steer large financial firms in the current volatile environment is complex and challenging and has never been more important.

“The demand for c-suite experience in the recruitment of new directors must not come at the cost of balancing gender representation across Europe’s financial boardrooms and should not indirectly act to prevent new skills and expertise entering the boardroom. It has been evidenced time and again that boardroom diversity — whether in terms of gender, background or experience — is a driver of outperformance over the long term.”

 While all European financial services firms monitored, including Ireland, have female board members, the current gender split across all firms stands at 57% male and 43% female (down from 58:42% in 2022), and 31% of listed European financial services firms are still reporting under 40% female representation in their boardroom.

This is below the level required by June 2026 to comply with the European Commission’ s European Women on Boards Directive, which requires all companies in EU member states to meet a 40% female target for non-executive boards or 33% for all board members.

C-suite experience was the top criteria for new board director recruitment in 2023, with 59% of appointments during the year bringing current or past executive management team experience. However, of directors with c-suite experience appointed this year, just 38% were female, down from 47% in 2022.

Across European financial services boardrooms, female directors remain significantly less likely than their male counterparts to have the experience of c-suite role or hold a senior board position. Just over half (51%) of female directors have the experience of an executive management team role, while 64% of male directors have similar experience. 

“Of course, increasing appointments of female directors with c-suite experience can only take place if there is a strong talent pool and a growing pipeline,” Colin Ryan said.

“The 40% gender diversity threshold under the European directive should help to galvanise firms' efforts to recognise and nurture female talent throughout career paths — not just towards directorships, but at all levels. Importantly, however, this 40% level of female representation at board level should be viewed as a minimum to build from, not a level to work towards.”