Banking giant Credit Suisse believes pushing past the gender divide within banking involves sponsoring their female employees, writes Holly Parmenter.
This year Lara Warner, COO and nine other senior women at Credit Suisse formed a mentoring and sponsorship program called the Executive Mentoring Advisory Group (EMAG). The group matches each woman with a member of Credit Suisse’s Executive Board.
Robert Shafir, head of private banking & wealth management and CEO Americas at Credit Suisse, gives Warner unfiltered feedback.
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"Sponsorship has to happen at every level to be truly impactful," said Shafir.
He added: "Our objective as sponsors is to ensure that the most senior executives of the bank meet these exceptional women and have a chance to see how talented they are."
Marisa Drew, co-head of global markets solutions and an EMAG participant, believes the bank’s investments in sponsorship will pay off through new business.
Drew said: "More of the world’s wealth is now controlled by women. Our client base will demand that the organisations that serve them have diversity; they don’t want to be served by mono-gender organisations."
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By GlobalDataSponsorship programs are available to staff at all levels of the bank. The bank’s first sponsorship program for female managing directors started in 2011 with 33 women. Within a two year period, half of them were either promoted or assumed additional responsibilities.
