One in five top British insurance employees are women -survey

LONDON, Feb 26 (Reuters) - Only one in five board members or senior executives at insurance companies in Britain are women, compared with more than half of entry level staff, the Association of British Insurers said on Monday.

The progression of women in the British workforce is in focus following the requirement for companies to publish gender pay gap data by April 2018.

Data from insurer Standard Life (LSE: SL.L - news) last week showed men in the company were paid on average over 40 percent more than women at April 2017, while Aviva (Other OTC: AIVAF - news) 's pay gap was nearly 30 percent, according to data published last month.

Insurers have put the pay gap down to a lack of women at senior levels.

"There is a great determination at the very top of our member firms to tackle this issue," ABI director general Huw Evans said in a statement. Four in five insurers have diversity strategies and provide training in unconscious bias, the ABI said.

The ABI's findings came from data covering more than 82,000 insurance employees.

(Reporting by Carolyn Cohn, editing by David Evans)