DBS Trumpets High Ranking For Gender Equality

Tom Burroughes

29 January 2021

Singapore-based .

The index recognises publicly listed companies which are open about their policy on gender and the related treatment of staff. At a time when concerns remain about the “gender gap” in many sectors, the index is designed to show which firms are making progress.

“To be in the GEI’s top global quartile and recognised as best-in-class for gender equality is an important achievement for us. It attests to our firm commitment to advancing parity across DBS, and our efforts in building a respectful and inclusive workplace that embraces gender, generational and cultural diversity. We believe gender equality is essential to sustainable growth. At DBS, women comprise 50 per cent of our workforce, 40 per cent of our senior management, and run our largest businesses and key functions across the bank,” Piyush Gupta, DBS chief executive, said.

The GEI’s reporting framework allows investors to compare how companies around the world are investing in women in the workplace, the supply chain, and the communities in which they operate. Submitting data using the Bloomberg gender reporting framework is voluntary, Bloomberg said.

Despite raising the threshold for inclusion in the 2021 index, a record number of companies disclosed their data, and the quality of disclosure continues to improve. This year, GEI companies had a 94 per cent disclosure score on average. While the average disclosure score was high, the average data excellence score was 55 per cent, making it evident that there is still work that needs to be done, Bloomberg said.

The “data excellence” score is broken down into scores across five categories: female leadership and talent pipeline, equal pay and gender pay parity, inclusive culture, sexual harassment policies, and pro-women brands.

Other banks included in the index include UBS, Bank of America, BBVA, BNP Paribas, BNY Mellon, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Close Brothers, ING, Mediobanca, Mitsubishi UJF Financial Group, Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan, Itau Unibanco, Intesa Sanpaolo, National Australia Bank, Natwest Group, Nomura, Northern Trust, Lloyds Banking Group, Shinsei Bank, Societe Generale, Standard Chartered, State Street, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial, Sun Life Financial, Royal Bank of Canada, Scotiabank, Schroders, PNC Financial Services, and Toronto-Dominion Bank.