UniCredit is proud to be included for the second time in Bloomberg's Gender-Equality Index - GEI. The 2021 GEI includes 380 companies across 44 countries and regions, and 11 sectors.
Sara Gay, Group Head of Diversity and Inclusion at UniCredit, commented: "Whilst we remain conscious of the journey ahead, we are proud to say that UniCredit is making concrete progress in increasing female representation in its senior management as well as executive management roles. We will continue to focus on diversity and inclusion with a strong commitment and are further encouraged by the inclusion in this year's Bloomberg's Gender-Equality Index alongside other companies that are setting a clear example to advance women in the workplace. This is an important acknowledgement for us that shows our commitment to ensuring that we strengthen our Group-wide pipeline of talented women in line with our pledge for a more diverse leadership team."
UniCredit is committed to ensuring a fair and positive work environment for all employees with a strong focus on diversity and inclusion. In 2018 the bank joined the Women in Finance Charter setting itself the target of 20 per cent of women in senior management by 2022. Last year UniCredit strengthened this important pledge with a further target of 30 per cent of women in senior management by 2023.
The bank's commitments are supported by concrete Group-wide initiatives with ongoing monitoring. In 2019 the first ever cross-country, cross-industry International Mentoring Program WeFly was launched to support female middle manager colleagues in their professional growth. Dedicated Inclusive Leadership Programs as well as Unconscious Bias training have been rolled out to all managers across the Group to ensure they have the right tools to help continually create a more inclusive working environment.
UniCredit has also introduced policies on Harassment and Anti-Retaliation to promote an environment where all employees feel comfortable in open and honest communication. Furthermore, since 2017, all top managers have a specific set of KPIs related to "People" covering gender balance and gender diversity initiatives as tangible proof of the strong commitment and accountability of our senior executives to diversity and inclusion.
The GEI brings transparency to gender-related practices and policies at publicly listed companies increasing the breadth of environmental, social and governance (ESG) data available to investors. The comprehensive, transparent GEI scoring methodology allows investors to assess company performance and compare across industry peer groups.
The reference index measures gender equality across five pillars: female leadership and talent pipeline, equal pay and gender pay parity, inclusive culture, sexual harassment policies, and pro-women brand.
Through disclosure of gender-related metrics using the GEI framework, the firms included in the 2021 GEI have committed to provide a comprehensive look at their investment in workplace gender equality and the communities in which they operate, raising the bar of what should be expected from other companies within the same industry. UniCredit was included in this year's index for scoring at or above a global threshold established by Bloomberg to reflect a high level of disclosure and overall performance across the framework's five pillars.
Both the framework and the GEI are voluntary and have no associated costs. The GEI is a reference index and is not for use as a financial benchmark. The index is not ranked.
To learn more please visit the GEI website.
Milan 27 January 2021
Enquiries: mediarelations@unicredit.eu