Landbay reaches Women in Finance targets
LANDBAY has achieved the targets set last year as part of its commitment to the Treasury’s Women in Finance Charter.
The buy-to-let specialist has confirmed that there is now a minimum of one female representative on every interview panel. It has also drafted a formal maternity and paternity leave plan for all employees.
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The peer-to-peer lender’s third target was to ensure that for any additions to executive management or the board of directors, at least one woman must be shortlisted. However, there have been no vacancies at an executive and non-executive level since this promise was made in 2017.
“The Women in Finance Charter is a critical initiative which recognises the benefits that come with a fair and open approach to recruitment and HR in general,” said John Goodall, chief executive at Landbay.
“Landbay is proud to commit to the Charter, promoting a balanced and fair workplace within the P2P sector and financial services industry as a whole.
“Much like our other P2P counterparts, we are still in the relatively early stages of growth so the targets set needed to be proportionate to our size and stage of development. However, with several new hires on the horizon to support our continued expansion, we are focussed on these measures to ensure a gender balance at senior levels going forward.”
The update comes as the Fawcett Society called for new quotas to be introduced to get more women into key positions in politics, business and the arts across Britain. According to Fawcett Society research, just six per cent of FTSE 100 chief executives are female.
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“When we see this data brought together it is both shocking and stark – despite some prominent women leaders, men haven’t let go of the reins of power and progress is painfully slow,” said Sam Smethers, chief executive of the Fawcett Society. “Equality won’t happen on its own. We have to make it happen. That is why we are calling for time-limited use of quotas and making all jobs flexible by default.”
Last year, Landbay and dozens of other companies including RateSetter and Funding Circle signed up to the Women in Finance Charter, which aims to promote a balanced and fair workplace within the financial services industry. Earlier this year, P2P platform rebuildingsociety.com also joined the list of signatories.
The Charter requires firms to publicly report on any progress which has been made towards those targets.
Read more: Fintech firms urged to sign up to Women in Finance Charter
