Financial services still ‘old boys’ club’ where women ‘risk careers’ to report sexual harassment, MPs told

Dozens of women have told MPs that the City’s financial services sector remains an “old boys’ club” with inadequate systems for reporting sexual harassment, as part of the Treasury watchdog’s investigation into sexism in the Square Mile.

The Treasury Committee on Wednesday published the summary of an engagement event it held in November with 40 women, most of whom had experienced sexual harassment or were aware of colleagues who had.

Female employees at companies including banks, insurers and asset managers said diversity and inclusion schemes were often “tokenistic”, “box-ticking” and lacked “teeth”.

While a small number said their firms had become more inclusive in recent years, the majority in attendance reported little progress.

The committee said attendees had noted “a reduction in levels of overt sexism and misogyny in the workplace, such as sexist ‘office banter’, but thought that misogynistic mindsets remained
widespread, with behaviours having instead become more underhand and pernicious”.

Women said the culture within the sector was still an “old boys’ club”, where nobody wanted to “rock the boat”.

Attendees added that the role of companies’ HR systems “was clearly to protect the firm rather than support the victim”, and many felt women were risking their careers to report sexual harassment.

The summary was published ahead of a hearing on sexism in the City with bosses of the UK’s financial watchdogs.

Labour MP and committee member Dame Angela Eagle told witnesses the evidence was “compelling” and showed “there’s impunity because the perpetrators know that they’re too powerful to be brought to book”.

“Everybody knows who these people are but nobody actually reports them because it’s not practical for the victims, and if they are reported via HR or within companies they are protected,” she said.

Nikhil Rathi, chief executive of the Financial Conduct Authority, called the evidence “deeply troubling”.

“The industry is very much asking us to lean in for some regulatory intervention in this space,” added FCA markets boss Sarah Pritchard.

“There’s a separate aspect… in terms of rolling bad apples – people that will potentially move from role to role. And our proposals here very much try to prevent that by making it clear that any information that is relevant to fit and proper ought to be disclosed in regulatory references.”

Pritchard noted a “steady increase in the number of reports coming through to our whistleblowing line” in recent months.

The Treasury Committee urged City bosses in 2018 to abolish the “alpha male” culture and end the stigma around women’s flexible working.

It is now scrutinising the sector’s progress since these recommendations and evaluating the impact of the Treasury’s Women in Finance Charter, which asks financial services firms to commit to gender balance.

MPs last month heard from Aviva chief executive Amanda Blanc, who said she had heard from “hundreds” of women describing their experiences of misogyny while working in the financial sector.

Sam Woods, chief executive of the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), and Vicky Saporta, the PRA’s executive director of prudential policy, also gave evidence on Wednesday.