Zopa to increase senior female headcount by five per cent
ZOPA has promised to increase the number of women in senior roles at the firm by five per cent by December 2021.
The peer-to-peer platform has announced that 38 per cent of its senior roles are currently held by women, but it intends to increase this figure as part of its ongoing commitment to diversity in the workplace.
The announcement comes a few months after Zopa signed the Women in Finance Charter, which encourages companies in the financial sector to reach gender equality goals.
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“I am passionate about finding outstanding people to join Zopa and about helping them to progress their career with us,” said Jaidev Janardana, chief executive of Zopa.
“It is therefore really important to me that we create an environment where diversity is a positive and where everyone is treated fairly.”
“I am proud that as a business we have women at leadership team level as well as running functions and leading product teams. I look forward to seeing Zopa make even more diversity headway as we go forward.”
To mark its commitment to the Women in Finance Charter, Zopa has asked some of its most senior female members of staff to speak out on their experiences of working at Zopa.
Read more: Zopa joins Women in Finance Charter
“We have a number of hugely talented women working across a diverse range of skills and disciplines at Zopa,” said Caroline Mills, operations director at the firm.
“Personally, I’ve had four different roles during my eight years at Zopa, each one with increasingly more responsibility.
“There’s never been a glass ceiling, and that’s why we’ve been able to retain such great talent. For working mothers like myself or women planning on having children, a lack of flexible work arrangements in other jobs has been a big deterrent.
“At Zopa, I have had flexibility and support which has enabled me to succeed at work whilst raising my family.”
Binh Chu, head of credit cards added that “having a mix of perspectives on the team really helps us to represent the customer in our product decisions and also makes our working discussions more interesting. When everyone thinks the same and sees the world in the same way, there is no challenge.”
Meanwhile, Clare Gambardella, the platform’s chief customer officer, noted that the firm encourages “an environment of equality”.
“I joined Zopa around nine months ago having never worked in financial services,” she said.
“I had heard a lot about the gender imbalances that exist across areas of the industry but my experience of Zopa was very positive on this front from the outset.
“Zopa has a lot of talented women at all levels of the organisation and I have seen a deep commitment to creating an environment of equality. It is extremely important in my opinion to have women in leadership roles in order to make senior roles and career paths feel accessible for a wider number of people.”
More than 272 UK-based companies have signed the Women in Finance Charter, including P2P platforms Funding Circle and RateSetter, P2P investment manager Goji, direct lending specialist BondMason and buy-to-let P2P lender Landbay.
Read more: Landbay reaches Women in Finance targets