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Becoming the bank of choice for women goes hand-in-hand with becoming the employer of choice for women. There is a mutually reinforcing connection between the two: Our data shows that Alliance members with more mature Women’s Markets programs have better gender balance at all levels of their workforce and greater reach into the female economy. And in fact, there has been a noticeable uptick in Alliance members’ results on gender diversity and inclusion—especially at the highest levels of their organizations—in recent years.
Just look at the data.
It makes sense. Women know what women need. So, there is business value in the presence of women’s voices in all aspects of Women’s Markets program development—from initial buy-in to the design of holistic customer value propositions to marketing, communications, engagement and beyond.
The business value extends well beyond ensuring the effectiveness of Women’s Markets programs. Having better gender balance on boards and in management allows for a broader range of perspectives, views, and experiences. It is associated with stronger financial outcomes, reduced risk, enhanced resilience, greater stability, and a heightened focus on transparency and ethics—all of which helps ensure financial service providers’ long-term sustainability (IMF).
The Alliance has long understood the importance of gender DEI for financial service providers that want to become the bank of choice for women. But, as with building holistic customer value propositions for women, improving the gender balance in workforces and leadership is a journey that takes time, effort, resources, and commitment. This journey will differ from market to market, and even among financial service providers operating within the same market. We work with our members in multiple ways, meeting them where they are and helping them get to where they want to be, within their own market context.
The Alliance offers a wide variety of opportunities in multiple formats for members to boost their DEI knowledge and improve the gender balance of their workforce, management, and board, and learn from the experiences of others.
This immersive and holistic learning program is among the Alliance’s most highly valued services. Designed to give financial services professionals the skills and tools they need to build a women-centered strategy and serve women effectively, the Academy’s curriculum includes topics ranging from understanding the business case to structuring women customers’ value propositions to using sex-disaggregated data to monitor and refine offerings and beyond. Courses feature knowledgeable and highly respected presenters and panelists—senior executives from other member institutions with strong internal and external women-centered strategies, who share their experiences building a sustainable and successful Women’s Markets program.
The Annual Summit is the Alliance’s flagship event—the premier global gathering of thought leaders, banks, fintechs, insurance companies, development finance institutions, investors, venture capitalists, regulators, and other financial ecosystem stakeholders. Through the years, the Summit has built a well-deserved reputation as the MUST-ATTEND event for all those involved in advancing women’s financial inclusion.
Summit participants benefit from formal sessions featuring senior practitioners and subject matter experts on how to optimize the potential in Women’s Markets. The informal engagement is equally valuable, as attendees network, share experiences, and uncover new opportunities to tap into the growing global female economy.
Our Gender DEI Task Force meets on a regular basis for facilitated webinars to explore trends and topics related to building an inclusive workplace. Focus is on building a community of DEI champions. Discussions drill down on successes—and how they were achieved—as well as challenges—and how best to overcome them.
The Alliance’s Mentoring Program is a six-month, one-on-one program that connects experts from Alliance members that have mature Women’s Markets and DEI programs (mentors) with Alliance members that have less-developed programs (mentees) who are working towards a specific objective, such as deepening the value proposition, ramping up sex-disaggregated data collection, or embedding the program fully throughout the institution.
The Resource Hub includes content developed by the Alliance aimed at helping member institutions enhance their gender DEI. This includes materials available exclusively to members, such as our comprehensive how-to guide, Becoming The Employer Of Choice For Women, as well as publicly available content, such as our In Brief, Driving Change: Achieving Gender-Balanced Leadership in Financial Services. The hub also features member case studies, along with a curated list of related materials published by relevant third parties.