Gender pay gap 91 per cent for those earning over £1m at financial services firms

The scale of the gender pay gap in financial services has been revealed with new research showing that for top earners the gender pay gap is a massive 91 per cent.

The research by employment law firm Fox & Partners shows that for those earning over £1m at financial services firms there is a gender pay gap of 91 per cent.

Read more: These companies have some of the widest gender pay gaps in the UK

There are 4,600 men earning over £1m at financial services firms in the UK and only 400 women.

The gap between the number of men and women earning £1m or more in UK financial services is growing.

It increased 17 per cent to 4,200 over the last five years, up from 3,600 in 2010-11.

Caroline Field, a partner at Fox & Partners, said: “The yawning gender pay gap at the top end of the financial services industry has been getting worse – not better.”

Read more: City banks report gender pay gaps

Field argued that there was likely to be legal group actions on pay in the financial services sector.

“The shift in culture towards speaking up, the increased pressure for transparency and the availability of creative funding solutions for collective actions have removed some of the structural barriers which may have historically prevented a challenge to the gender pay gap.”

The banks with some of the largest gender pay gaps include J.P. Morgan with women’s mean hourly pay 44 per cent lower than men and only 23 per cent of women in the upper pay bracket.

Australian bank Macquarie had a 56.3 per cent mean gender pay gap with just 6.2 per cent of women its its upper pay quartile, while women at challenger bank Virgin Money were paid an aveage of 32.5 per cent less per hour then men.