Financial Services IWD Roundup

March 8, 2018, marked the 107^th celebration of International Women’s Day. GBA members honored the day with a variety of events and campaigns held throughout the month of March. Take a look at how some of our network celebrated:

Access Bank, Nigeria

Access Bank honored IWD 2018 with a social media campaign highlighting the achievements of notable Nigerian women, finishing with a video that spotlighted the achievements of the bank’s “W” Women’s Market initiative to date:

AXA, international

AXA hosted a Facebook Live chat with NASA scientist Dr. Christine Darden on March 8 and highlighted what the company is doing to help it reach gender parity by 2023 in a video it disseminated on social media.

BNCR, Costa Rica

Banco Nacional de Costa Rica created a series of social media posts reaffirming its commitment to women’s economic empowerment, culminating in the release of a statement on SoundCloud. Listen here (in Spanish).

Banistmo, Panama

In partnership with UN Women, Banistmo conducted a forum entitled Equal Opportunities for Men and Women: Progress, Achievements and Challenges. Panelists discussed how to best promote women’s economic empowerment and the relationship between women’s inclusion and economic growth. They also made over their Facebook page with inspirational messaging honoring women.

Bank of Palestine, Palestine

Bank of Palestine launched a new advertising campaign associated with International Women’s Day for its Felestineya Women’s Market program. The campaign reached thousands of people via billboards, digital ads and social media.

Barclays Bank, international

HeForShe partner Barclays interviewed women in management roles at the company around the world to get their perspectives on topics beyond their gender, ranging from blockchain to advocacy to problem solving to leadership to the importance of healthy debates among teams. Barclays UK released a video stressing the importance of language and exploring “gendered” terms.

BFL, Laos

Banque Franco-Lao highlighted female staff in messaging on social media throughout the week of March 5 in a celebration of Women’s Week. They also closed all but two of their branches across the country in observance of the March 8 holiday.

BLC Bank, Lebanon

BLC Bank launched its Little Women of Tomorrow campaign in March, calling attention to gender stereotypes, the wage gap and under-representation of women in leadership positions. The campaign noted how these things influence how girls view their own potential and shape their aspirations, with the tagline “They shouldn’t wish they were boys.”

Diamond Bank, Nigeria

Diamond Bank celebrated Women’s History Month throughout March with a prolific social media campaign. The bank also organized a 5K walk in Lagos to benefit endometriosis research and sponsored a capacity building workshop for women entrepreneurs in honor of International Women’s Day.

Garanti, Turkey

Garanti Bank in Turkey created a widely shared video for International Women’s Day that generated over 63,000 views. The video highlighted women’s economic contributions in the country.

HSBC, international

HSBC’s IWD message showcased women scientists, welders, mechanics, sports figures and businesspeople, emphasizing the numerous “non-traditional” roles women occupy in societies around the world.

Kotak Mahindra Bank, India

All-Stars Academy Asia participant Kotak Mahindra Bank leveraged a popular YouTube channel to create a video that highlighted gender stereotypes while also promoting its women’s savings product.

NatWest, United Kingdom

NatWest organized dozens of Women in Business events across the United Kingdom in honor of International Women’s Day. The bank also leveraged its digital presence to showcase case studies of successful women entrepreneurs, and conducted a Gender Challenge webinar “celebrating the success that has been made on the gender agenda.” On March 9, NatWest announced it would make over £150m available to female-led SMEs across the UK. The bank also committed to a series of over 60 events to provide networking, education and information for female business leaders and entrepreneurs.

TEB, Turkey

TEB released a video on social media, its website and on television highlighting stereotypes against women in business and attempting to change mindsets about what women are capable of doing. The video reached over 33 million viewers in total.