CYBG reports a 37% gender pay gap

CYBG, the owner of Clydesdale Bank and Yorkshire Banks, has reported a 37% gender pay gap.

The bank has published the figures for the first time, and said it has set targets to improve gender diversity at senior levels which will be linked to executive remuneration.

The Bank’s Gender Pay Report provides a view of the overall mean and median gender pay and bonus gap based on figures for April 2017 and bonus paid in the previous 12 months.

CYBG’s gender pay gap currently sits at 37%, which the bank said was driven largely by the higher number of men in senior roles, compared to their female counterparts. The bank said that as at September 2017, 37% of employees in the top paid quartile were women compared to 63% male.

Across the Bank, 63% of the Bank’s lowest paid quartile are female. CYBG said it has been agreed that the minimum salary for full time will increase by 11% to £17,000. It added: “This is a significant increase for the Bank’s staff in lower grades and will help close the gender pay gap given the higher proportion of women in the Bank’s lowest pay quartile.”

Kate Guthrie, group human resources director, said: “The publication of our first ever Gender Pay Report is an important milestone in our drive to create stronger gender diversity across the business and have greater representation of women at senior levels across all parts of the Bank.

“We’ve introduced a target of 40% females in senior management roles by 2020 and are now formally linking senior executives reward to the delivery of our inclusion targets. But we won’t stop there – ultimately, we want to achieve a 50:50 gender balance in senior management roles.

“We are working hard to improve our gender pay gap and in addition to setting targets we are also making flexible working easier, investing in our talent and succession programmes and taking a sustainable and effective approach to our long-term recruitment planning.”

The Bank is now including new measures in its long-term incentive plan for senior executives, which for the first time, links part of senior executives’ performance related pay to reaching higher levels of diversity at senior levels in the organisation.

CYBG said it had already made good progress in promoting a more diverse population, particularly at senior levels – 30% of the bank’s executive leadership team and 25% of the bank’s Board are female, along with 35% of all senior managers.

CYBG has also committed to undertake a bi-annual Equal Pay Audit, where gender distribution of performance, base pay, allowances and bonus paid to staff are reviewed.