Monzo moves ahead of rival fintechs and narrows gender pay gap
Monzo has significantly improved its gender pay gap, it revealed in a new report today that showed women at the British challenger bank earn 4 per cent less than men per hour on average – narrowed from 2019, when the gap stood at 20 per cent.
It brings the fintech into pole position compared to its rivals, in a sector that has lagged behind even investment banking in terms of gender equality for the past few years.
According to the new report, which is mandatory for all UK companies with a headcount above 250, Monzo paid women 96p for every £1 they paid men in April this year, measured by median hourly wages.
But the fintech admitted it still has a 33 per cent gender pay gap if measured by mean pay, and a 40 per cent pay gap in its median bonus figures.
Bearing in mind Monzo has beaten its rivals to reporting its figures for 2021, London fintech Revolut currently lags behind with its most recent figures from April 2020, which revealed it paid women 69p for every £1 it paid men, and Starling Bank, where women earned 84p for every £1 a male peer earned last year.
Monzo said it had closed the gap over the past two years mainly through hiring and promoting women into senior roles within the company, increasing the number of women in higher paid roles from 26 per cent to 35 per cent.
More women also joined the company on its board and as directors in the last two years, and the fintech said it had met its Women in Finance charter goal of 40 per cent of women in these positions this year.
Senior hires included its new Chief Operating Officer Sujata Bhatia, General Counsel and Company Secretary Stephanie Pagni, and US CEO Carol Nelson. The challenger bank also said Rachel Mooney will join as Chief People Officer next year.
Looking ahead, the fintech said it would repeat its goal of increasing the number of women in leadership roles by 10 per cent. “As of August 2021, women take up 36 per cent of our leadership roles,” the bank said. “We’ll put the same goal in place for 2021/2022.”