The first circle of power in banks, a matter of men

Never has a woman run a large bank in France, nor does she run one today. A few days before International Women’s Rights Day, the situation is severe for a profession that is nevertheless predominantly female.

The best placed arrive in the first circle. The Societe Generale and Crédit Agricole banks, for example, each have a woman, Diony Lebot and Valérie Baudson, among their 12 deputy and deputy general managers. None within BNP Paribas and Crédit Mutuel Federal Alliance.

This observation can be made in various industries, but banking is a particular sector, which has more women than men, or 57% of the workforce of some 350,000 employees, according to the French Banking Federation (FBF).

The relationship is reversed among executives and becomes more pronounced as responsibilities and salary increase. Only 32% of the most senior banking executives are women, a percentage however significantly higher than in 2012 (24%).

Are bankers therefore irreducible machos? No, answers the professor of management at the University of Geneva and researcher affiliated with Skema business school Michel Ferrary, who puts forward the argument of training, high-level finance remaining very “mathematical” and dependent on a pool of engineering schools with very few women.

And “to reach the top of large groups, international mobility is key”, he adds, questioned by AFP, a mobility often hampered by family constraints that are more burdensome for women, according to him.

– Force of law –

Banks, like all companies with more than 1,000 employees, will have to comply with the quotas provided for from March 1, 2026 by the Rixain law, under penalty of financial sanctions. This text voted at the end of 2021 imposes a minimum of 30% women among “senior executives” and within the “governing bodies” of companies (executive committee, management committee, etc.), then 40% from March 1, 2029 .

The president of the Spanish banking giant Santander, Ana Botin, on February 2, 2023 in Boadilla del Monte, near Madrid (AFP/Archives/Pierre-Philippe Marcou)

It is in the wake of the Copé-Zimmermann law of 2011, which imposes a minimum of 40% of women around the table of supervisory and administrative boards.

Most banking establishments are already in the nails of the first requirements of the Rixain law.

But on closer inspection, the women who find themselves at the forefront are often confined to so-called “functional” departments such as human resources, CSR, legal or communication, less listened to in strategic decisions than the major professions. business introducers.

The LCL bank is an example: an executive committee made up of nine people, including two women in charge of finance and legal affairs for the first, human resources for the second.

The Rixain law “accelerates the feminization of executive committees”, greets AFP Floriane de Saint Pierre, president of the data platform dedicated to corporate governance Ethics & Boards, an essential step before having one day a female CEO.

– Glass ceiling –

Recent appointments so far reflect only a slight tremor in this direction.

Those of the month of February to the executive boards of BPCE (for Banques Populaires and Caisses d’Epargne) and the Banque Postale will enable BPCE to achieve parity (two out of four with the arrival on 1 April of Hélène Madar, who joined Béatrice Lafaurie) and at the Banque Postale 40%, with the arrival of Perrine Kaltwasser.

A recent breakthrough is visible at the top in retail banking (Marguerite Bérard at BNP Paribas, Marie-Christine Ducholet at Société Générale, Marion Rouso at Banque Postale) as well as in market finance (Stéphanie Paix at Natixis, Valérie Baudson at Amundi).

But the glass ceiling remains solid for the highest office, unlike Spain (Ana Botin leads the European giant Santander) or the United Kingdom (Alison Rose at NatWest).

BPCE and Société Générale chose last year to appoint men, respectively Nicolas Namias and Slawomir Krupa, to head them. Among the finalists, no woman.

If the professional federation has Maya Atig as general manager, it remains chaired by the big boss of Crédit Agricole, Philippe Brassac.

© 2023 AFP

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