Fintech driving gender diversity in Chinese financial services
The demand for talent in the financial technology industry means that it has a greater mix of staff than China’s banking sector as a whole
The growth of the financial technology industry in China has the potential to be a catalyst for change when it comes to the numbers of women in senior roles in the country’s financial services industry, according to new research.
The numbers of women in senior levels in China and Hong Kong remains below global averages, though this may be starting to change.
This year, just 8 per cent of executive committee members in Chinese financial services companies were women, compared to 14 per cent in Hong Kong, and a global average of 16 per cent, a report from management consultancy firm Oliver Wyman found. The report noted, however, that of the top 20 fintech companies in China, 50 per cent had women in the founder, chief executive, or senior management roles.
China remains one of the world’s leading centres for fintech, despite recent moves to tighten regulations, particularly in the online peer to peer lending sector. A report from Citigroup published earlier this year found that Chinese fintech firms now had a similar number, if not more, clients as the largest banks.
Pan Jing, chief marketing officer of Dianrong.com, told Oliver Wyman’s researchers: “The internet has become a main driver of the growth [in the fintech industry], and there is a shortage of good talent. This has created more opportunities for women to move forward in their careers, not because they are women but because they are good managers.”
