Women in Finance Charter: A Pledge for Gender Balance across Financial Services 

Fleet Mortgages has signed the Women in Finance Charter, a commitment by HM Treasury and signatory firms to work together to build a more balanced and fair industry. Firms that sign up to this Charter are pledging to be the best businesses in the sector.  

Fleet Mortgages is a subsidiary of Starling Bank, the UK’s first digital-only bank. Founded by Anne Boden, the first female founder of a British bank, Anne is widely recognised for revolutionising the banking sector and for putting diversity at the heart of Starling.  

Here at Fleet, we are immensely proud of what Anne has achieved and we hope to be able to follow in her footsteps. We are committed to creating a culture of equality and we believe that it is people’s skills, knowledge and experience that matter, regardless of their gender, race, religion or anything else.  

Fleet Mortgages Pledges to Promote Gender Diversity by:  

• Having one member of our senior executive team who is responsible and accountable for gender diversity and inclusion
• Setting internal targets for gender diversity within our senior management
• Publishing progress annually against these targets in reports on our website
• Having an intention to ensure the pay of the senior executive team is linked to delivery against these internal targets on gender diversity

Our WIFC Representative 

Nicola Richardson, our CFO, is a member of our senior executive team and she is responsible and accountable for gender diversity and inclusion within Fleet Mortgages. Nicola represents Fleet Mortgages at the Diversity & Inclusivity Finance Forum’s (run by AE3 Media) and she was also one of the winners of Mortgage Introducer’s Elite Women award in 2023.

Nicola said:

“At Fleet Mortgages, we take the Women in Finance Charter seriously and it is not just a box-ticking exercise. We are passionate about helping our female workforce to achieve their potential and we are actively taking steps to build a positive and inclusive culture within the business.” 

Our Target 

At Fleet Mortgages, we are committed to improving the gender balance within the senior management team. As of 31 July 2023 we have 37% female representation in our senior management team which we have defined as our Executive Committee plus Department Managers.  Our target is to reach 40% or more by 31 July 2026.

We intend to do this in a number of ways including:

• Adopting a Family-Friendly Approach: Having a family should not prevent our workforce from progressing within their career. We will continue to review and refine our policies to ensure we promote a family-friendly workplace
• Committing to Succession Planning: We recognise that we need to build a strong pipeline of female leaders. We are committed to developing and nurturing the senior management of the future through the provision of a robust mentoring programme
• Fostering Growth and Development: We are committed to supporting our employees’ long-term professional development. We will continue to develop and enhance our training programme to equip individuals with the skills and training they need to progress to senior leadership roles

For further information

For further information about the HM Treasury Women in Finance Charter, click here.  

To view the HM Treasury Women in Finance Charter, click here.