BNP Paribas says has 38 percent gender pay gap at its London branch

PARIS (Reuters) - France's BNP Paribas disclosed on Friday a 38.3 percent mean gender pay gap at its London branch, which it said was largely explained by the bank having fewer women in senior roles.

British financial firms are to provide figures on gap in earnings between men and women ahead of an April deadline set by Prime Minister Theresa May last year.

"There are more men than women in senior positions, and women are under-represented in front office and technical roles," the bank said in a statement, referring to its London branch, which consists mostly of corporate and institutional banking jobs.

The bank said it was taking a number of steps to reduce the pay gap, including supporting women to more senior roles though "Future Leaders Programme"and stipulating equal gender representation for graduate programmes.

(Reporting by Maya Nikolaeva, Editing by Dominique Vidalon)