On Friday 8 March, International Women’s Day united businesses, government and civil society to celebrate the achievements of women and recognise the challenges that still exist to achieve gender parity worldwide.
According to the UN’s 2023 gender snapshot, an additional US$360 million annually is needed to achieve gender equality and women’s empowerment across sustainable development goals, including ending poverty and hunger.
In the workplace, employee networks – also known as Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) – are taking a growing role in inspiring inclusion and driving real changes in the recruitment, inclusion and progression of women. According to McKinsey, today 90% of Fortune 500 companies have ERGs.
At BNP Paribas, six employee networks operate globally, including MixCity, a network active in 11 countries that aims to foster better representation of women at all levels of the company. With 38,000 employees worldwide, BNP Paribas’ Corporate and Institutional Bank (CIB) also has a number of dedicated business-driven gender networks, that deep dive into action needed around the specific challenges and opportunities of gender representation within their business lines, across markets, banking, cyber, IT and operations.
❝ Through our work on allyship, we want to help colleagues become fluent in what gender balance is about, and create a safe space, to support or to challenge. ❞
Driving diverse recruitment
Working within one of BNP Paribas CIB’s biggest business lines, Women in Global Markets (WiGM) has a presence across CIB’s three global regions, EMEA, Asia Pacific and the Americas. Launched in 2018, one of WiGM’s main focus areas is helping to tackle the underrepresentation of women in finance by engaging at university level.
In the UK, for example, the Women in Trading Academy offers female university students the chance to gain insights into a career in trading, with practical and theoretical training over a three-month period. The 2023 cohort concluded a successful second year of the programme, which is expanding across the Atlantic.
WiGM in the Americas is set to launch its first Academy this year, focused on helping incoming interns and Early Careers employees gain exposure to trading roles, both to prepare them for future experience on the trading floor and help tackle the underrepresentation of women in the field.
The Women in Global Banking (WiGB) network, formed in 2023 and with a presence in over 10 European countries, also works on initiatives to attract and retain more women. In the first year, it held several networking and insight events in Germany and France for almost 100 women students from leading business schools and universities, and organised networking, mentoring and coaching sessions for women colleagues across different countries.
Yannick Jung, BNP Paribas CIB’s Head of Global Banking, sponsored the launch of the network: “Since its launch, the Women in Global Banking network has been a valuable force in supporting the Global Banking management team to better understand and tackle issues around gender equity.”
“Progress is happening; in 2023, our Global Banking EMEA graduate cohort reached gender parity and the proportion of women within our intern hires continues to increase towards parity,” he continues. “We also have several initiatives to actively support colleagues navigate all stages of their professional development, as well as engage with clients on these important issues.”
Engaging clients on gender diversity, WiGB held a recent event at the Royal Academy in London that saw 25 junior Global Banking women professionals invite a professional counterpart for a networking breakfast and exhibition viewing. In France, WiGB and WiGM also collaborate on quarterly Women in Business Club breakfasts, with client invitees.
❝ Since its launch, the Women in Global Banking network has been a valuable force in supporting the Global Banking management team to better understand and tackle issues around gender equity. ❞
Navigating the career lifecycle
This focus on retention is mirrored by WiGM, which in the Asia Pacific region is focused on supporting employees in parenthood. According to a World Economic Forum report, women currently account for only 29.4% of entry-level workers in STEM fields; but this drops even further to 17.8% for VP level and 12.4% at C-suite level, underlining challenges in the retention of women in the workforce.
❝ Despite the challenge in hiring women from STEM subjects, we continue to reach our target of a 50% gender split in our graduate programme. The various WiGM initiatives worldwide do a lot to support our incoming graduates as they arrive on the trading floor, and throughout their careers at Global Markets. ❞
Head of Global Markets Olivier Osty notes: “Despite the challenge in hiring women from STEM subjects, we continue to reach our target of a 50% gender split in our graduate programme. The various WiGM initiatives worldwide do a lot to support our incoming graduates as they arrive on the trading floor, and throughout their careers at Global Markets.”
“In Asia Pacific, we’ve piloted a maternity training course for managers and worked with HR to publish a comprehensive handbook”, continues Ginny Cheok, Head of Prime Services Sales, Singapore & member of the WiGM APAC Board. “It is crucial that managers understand and recognise the challenges women face on maternity leave and in returning to work, so we can create a supportive environment and ensure women can remain on a positive career trajectory that suits their evolving circumstances.”
❝ It is crucial that managers understand and recognise the challenges women face on maternity leave and in returning to work, so we can create a supportive environment and ensure women can remain on a positive career trajectory that suits their evolving circumstances. ❞
A learning culture
Equipping employees and managers to promote gender diversity and inclusivity through training is a key element of the Bank’s gender strategy.
Patrick Colle, Head of BNP Paribas’ Securities Services business and Chairman, Financial Institutions Coverage (FIC), explains: “By building a sustainable environment where everyone has equal opportunities to reach their full potential, we cultivate new ideas, multiply talents, and expand perspectives. Preparing our current and future leadership to harness these opportunities is key for us. Within Securities Services, our Sustainable Leadership Programme is designed to promote gender equity by supporting over 500 managers around the world – men and women – to shift our collective thinking and decision-making towards a positive and inclusive culture.”
❝ Within Securities Services, our Sustainable Leadership Programme is designed to promote gender equity by supporting over 500 managers around the world – men and women – to shift our collective thinking and decision-making towards a positive and inclusive culture. ❞
Training is also a key theme for the Bank’s IT and Operations business, where two gender network streams, Women in IT and Women in Ops, were launched in 2021 and 2022 respectively.
Women in Ops has since launched Strong’Her, a career development programme for mid-level women to help navigate their careers, and collaborated with the Bank’s Learning and Development team to launch a training catalogue that includes specific modules on tackling sexism at work, and the impact of domestic violence in the workplace.
Caroline Becavin, BNP Paribas’ Global Head of Product Control and sponsor of Women in Ops, notes: “We are proud of the impact already being seen through our Strong’Her programme, and also the important ethos behind all of our Women in Ops initiatives. Through training and engagement, we want to create enabling conditions for lasting change and bring everyone along on the journey. We have a strong focus on allyship and are working on increasing male participation in our initiatives.”
Alice Cooper, Global Head of BNP Paribas Global Markets IT Regulatory, Surveillance and Conduct and stream lead for the Women in IT programme, agrees: “Through our work on allyship, we want to help colleagues become fluent in what gender balance is about, and create a safe space, to support or to challenge. Our Tech Academy also provides the opportunity for our community to level up our technical skills to create well-rounded professionals aware and capable of the very latest technologies.”
❝ Through training and engagement, we want to create enabling conditions for lasting change and bring everyone along on the journey. We have a strong focus on allyship and are working on increasing male participation in our initiatives. ❞
Inspiring the next generation
For Women in Cyber, the Bank’s network launched in 2019 to promote gender diversity in cybersecurity and related roles, banks like BNP Paribas can also make a difference by engaging at school level.
According to the UN, women still account for only 28% of engineering graduates, and 40% of those graduating in computer science and informatics. This falls to 22% for women in cutting edge fields, such as artificial intelligence. The UN also identifies Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects as critical to the greatest challenges for sustainable development, including combatting climate change, and that women’s participation in these subjects should be strengthened to harness the full pool of talent.
In 2023, the network hosted a half-day learning experience for children of employees on Cybersecurity, as well as inviting staff in Portugal to enrol their children in Technovation Girls, an international competition to inspire girls in STEM subjects. The network also called on employees to act as mentors to BNP Paribas participants and hosted the final of the competition at the Bank’s Lisbon offices.
Laure Morsy, Head of Human Resources at BNP Paribas CIB concludes: “The energy and enthusiasm that all of our networks bring through their unique and multiple actions add great value to the dynamic of our management, HR and other teams as they embed diversity, equity and inclusion at all levels of the organisation – and at every step of an individual’s professional journey with us.”
❝ The energy and enthusiasm that all of our networks bring through their unique and multiple actions add great value to the dynamic of our management, HR and other teams as they embed diversity, equity and inclusion at all levels of the organisation – and at every step of an individual’s professional journey with us. ❞