An important step towards increasing the proportion of women in Arctic and our industry

The Woman in Finance Charter is committed to increasing the proportion of women in leadership positions in the Norwegian finance industry. Financial services firms are asked to commit to implement four key industry actions.

"Closing the gender gap is obviously a work in progress for both Arctic and our industry. Signing the principles is a step in the right direction, and we look forward to working together with the Woman in Finance Charter team", says Mads Barås Bye, Head of People Management.

"By signing the principles, Arctic demonstrates its commitment to gender balance. This enables us to put in structured and goal-oriented work to attract more female talent to Arctic", he adds.

Working group in Arctic

To continuously improve its work on gender balance and diversity, Arctic has set up an internal working group. The group meets regularly to discuss relevant measures, ambitions and goals.

– We want make sure that both management and our entire organization are always committed to working towards the Women in Finance Charter principles. The working group enables us to set and follow up realistic goals for gender balance and inclusion – tailored to our needs, according to Barås Bye.

The four principles

Principle 1

A member of the executive committee to have dedicated responsibility for gender balance and inclusion.

Ensure commitment from the organisation's leadership, either the CEO or a person reporting to them.

Principle 2

Set internal targets for gender balance in leadership and senior positions.

Set concrete and realistic goals, reflecting the size, situation and needs of the organisation, as well as initiatives to follow them up.

Principle 3

Have an ambition to reflect the achievement of targets in leadership remuneration.

Establish a plan for linking the realisation of targets to executive compensation.

Principle 4

Publish the status of and progress towards targets on own website.

Support transparency and commitment by publishing targets, status and annual progress on own website together with the Women in Finance logo.

Background

Turid Solvang, CEO of FutureBoards, and Alexandra Morris, Investment Director of SKAGEN Funds, led the development of Norway's Women in Finance Charter inspired by the UK initiative of the same name launched by HM Treasury in 2016. Over 400 UK financial institutions representing nearly one million employees have signed the charter and in 2020 close to two thirds could confirm progress towards the targets they have set.

The Women in Finance Charter is backed by the following industry associations: Finance Norway, Norwegian Venture Capital & Private Equity Association (NVCA), Norwegian Fund and Asset Management Association and the Norwegian Securities Dealers Association. It is managed by FutureBoards AS.

Want to know more? Visit Kvinner i Finans

“The time for talking is over – we now need radical steps to pursue what we all agree is strategically important.”

— Alexandra Morris, SKAGEN Fondene