Women in Banking and Finance today held its 23rd Annual Awards for Achievement, marking its 40th anniversary while celebrating the achievements of four individuals and a team for their work promoting diversity and gender equality in banking and finance.

With Citi as headline sponsor, hosted by Kate Thornton, broadcaster and journalist, the (virtual) event attendees heard a keynote address from Andy Haldane, Chief Economist at the Bank of England and WIBF pledging to continue its work at a time of substantial change for women working in the financial services sector.

Anna Lane, WIBF President, congratulated the award winners, thanking them for their exceptional contributions to the sector.

The winners of the 23rd Awards for Achievement:

• Leanne Allen, KPMG – Tech Star Award, sponsored by LSEG

• Joanne Hannaford, Goldman Sachs – Award for Achievement, sponsored by HSBC

• Ayesa Latif, Citibank – Future Leader Awards, sponsored by Credit Suisse

• Helena Thernstrom, NatWest – Champion for Women Award, sponsored by Cynergy Bank

• RBS Women (now, NatWest Gender Network) – Team Award for Diversity, sponsored by Goldman Sachs

You can read more about our winners and this year’s shortlist below.

The 23rd WIBF Awards for Achievement are sponsored by Citi (Headline Sponsor), HSBC, Cynergy Bank, Credit Suisse, LSEG and Goldman Sachs.

Please click the buttons below to read/download The Awards Brochure and The Press Release

View The Brochure

View The Press Release

The Categories

Award for Achievement

Celebrates a woman who has achieved success within a senior role and who displays qualities of dynamism and daring in her working life. Candidates have also used their skills beyond their own career by either serving on boards of other organisations and/or by their involvement with furthering the interests of women in the workplace.

Sponsored by HSBC

Champion for Women Award

This award celebrates a seasoned professional, who through personal commitment, application and dedication, continuously promotes and inspires women in the workplace to reach their full potential. This award is open to men and women and recognises those who champion diversity and inclusion in all they do.

Sponsored by Cynergy Bank

Future Leader Award

Celebrates a woman aged 35 or younger (on 28th February 2020) who is making an exceptional impact within an organisation. She is shaping her organisation, in terms of business success, and as the example she provides to colleagues. This individual out-performs her peers and demonstrates huge drive for career success alongside energy for helping others.

Sponsored by Credit Suisse

Team Award for Diversity

Celebrates team success in promoting gender diversity in the workplace. The team may be a business line team that has driven and embedded the diversity agenda or a specialist function (such as HR or Diversity & Inclusion) that partners the business to provide vision and framework for enabling diversity at work.

Sponsored by Goldman Sachs

Tech Star Award

Celebrates this woman’s outstanding contribution within FinTech or Digital within Financial Services. This award is to recognise the woman who is leading the Tech agenda, through thought leadership, technical expertise or as an innovator. She will have demonstrated their passion and innovation and is leveraging technology to advance an improved gender equality; helping their financial services organisation move forward in terms of their digital agenda.

Sponsored by LSEG

Sponsored by

Headline Sponsor

Citi
"To be a high-performing organisation, we need a team that is representative of the places where we operate and the clients we serve. Citi has a strong record of action on important issues related to diversity, inclusion and equality and supporting the work of WIBF is essential to ensure female representation continues to grow and is appropriately recognised."

Award for Achievement

HSBC
"HSBC is thrilled to be a part of the WIBF 40th Celebrations and we are honoured to be sponsoring the Award for Achievement this year. It is so important to recognise the game-changers and champions within our organisations and consequently encourage those around them to realise their own individual potential."

Champion for Women Award

Cynergy Bank
"We are delighted to be sponsoring the 2020 Champion for Women Award and to be a part of the celebrations for the WIBF’s 40th Anniversary.

This award celebrates the commitment and dedication of individuals who enable and inspire women to reach their full potential, and in turn promote the agenda for diversity and inclusion across the Banking and Finance industry."

Future Leader Award

Credit Suisse
"Credit Suisse is delighted to sponsor the 2020 Future Leader Award. This category celebrates young talents who not only excel in their day job but are also inspirational role models for others. Good luck to the 2020 nominees."

Tech Star Award

LSEG
“Refinitiv is extremely proud to be sponsoring the Tech Star Award. As a global data driven business, we know that one piece of data must change: the number of women in leadership in business, technology and finance. It’s why we have set our own ambitious targets for women in our top leadership, appointed our first female CTO, and it’s why we have been a long-term supporter of WIBF and will work with you to inspire our sector to hire, promote and develop women."

Team Award For Diversity

Goldman Sachs
"Our commitment to creating and sustaining a diverse work environment is absolute. Ours is a culture of teamwork. For our groups to excel, all members must feel that they are operating in an inclusive environment that welcomes and supports differences, and encourages input from all perspectives. Our people have the right to expect a work environment in which the richness of their lives and experience is welcomed and valued by their team and by the firm.
We are pleased to sponsor this award, as it celebrates team success in promoting gender diversity in the workplace."

Shortlist Dinner Sponsor

LSEG
"Businesses focused on success know that ensuring a gender balanced approach to recruitment, retention and promotion is essential to building strong performance and a positive culture of inclusion and diversity within an organization. At Refinitiv, we are proud to sponsor the short-list event for the top talent from across the financial services sector who have been short-listed for the 2020 Awards for Achievement. Congratulations to those short-listed – a terrific achievement!"

2020 Awards Alumni Network Sponsor

Citi

Awards Media Partner

City AM

The Shortlist

Award for Achievement

Team Diversity Award

Champion for Women

The Tech Star Award

Future Leader Award

The winners

Joanne Hannaford, Goldman Sachs

Award for Achievement

Joanne is Head of Engineering in EMEA at Goldman Sachs and a leading pioneer in financial technology. Throughout her career, Joanne has always adopted a ‘pay it forward’ mentality, dedicating time and energy to encouraging under-privileged communities and diverse groups to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM).

She leverages her platform as a senior partner and member of the firm’s EMEA Inclusion and Diversity Committee to drive the firm’s agenda on diversity and inclusion. Through empowering fellow women engineers to become more visible, bringing enhanced education to local schools, and driving organisational and industry-wide policy, Joanne has had a wide-reaching impact within the global engineering community.

Read more

RBS Women (now NatWest Group Gender Network), NatWest Group

Team Diversity Award

The bank’s gender network, has 13,000+ members worldwide (more than a quarter of members are men). The network was responsible for more than 250 activities in 2019, including introducing a mentoring app, running a bank-wide development programme for junior women and launching the ‘50 Ways to Fight Bias’ initiative.

The volunteers running the network oversee 30 different strands and regions. In 2020, the team launched a bank-wide speed mentoring programme and is working with the personal bank to create a product to help the predominantly female customers who are victims of financial coercion.

Read more

Helena Thernstrom, NatWest Group

Champion for Women

Head of Legal, Asset and Invoice Finance at RBS (now NatWest), Helena has won for the cumulative body of work and positive change that she continues to deliver within the Bank and the wider industry, and for the significant difference she has made to countless individuals.

She is a visible leader and advocate of diversity and inclusion who works tirelessly to support and promote women in all aspects of both her professional and personal life. Her prolific work and output span the Bank, the asset finance industry, pro-bono work and inspiring the next generation.

Read more

Leanne Allen, KPMG LLP

The Tech Star Award

Leanne leads KPMG’s data capability, driving 100% growth over three years with an impressive gender-diverse team. A veteran data specialist, she helps clients navigate complex issues driving data strategies to realise the value of data assets whilst doing so in a safe and ethical way.

She supports other working mothers through her superwoman network (with over 100 members across KPMG UK advisory), as coach to external women in FS and by sharing her experience and advice through external “Supermum” podcasts.

Leanne is a thought-leader and inspirational speaker setting new operating model and governance standards addressing the grey space of Data Ethics.

Read more

Ayesa Latif, Citibank

Future Leader Award

Ayesa is Head of FX Electronic Sales EMEA at Citi. Her team is ranked the #1 Ecommerce FX sales team in EMEA. She makes an active effort to hire diverse talent and her team shows how increased diversity correlates to higher performance and revenues. As the regional champion for the annual Citi E for Education campaign, she leveraged her team and platforms to generate US$8 million.

Ayesa sits on the Senior Practitioner Committee for 100 Women in Finance. She works with a local non-profit organisation to personally sponsor a week-long Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) programme to 400 underprivileged children in London schools.

Read more

Digital Awards Ceremony Hosts and Speakers include

Kate Thornton

Journalist, TV presenter

Kate is a journalist and television and radio presenter, who has hosted some of television’s biggest shows, including the X Factor, The Royal Variety Performance, Loose Women and This Morning.

Kate currently hosts the hit podcast White Wine Question Time, which sees her asking well-known guests three thought provoking questions, over three glasses of wine. Previous guests have included Amanda Holden, Keith Lemon, Stacey Solomon, Judy Murray, David Lammy MP, Torvill and Dean, Ant Middleton and Craig Revel Horwood.

At 21, Kate became the youngest ever and first female editor of pop magazine Smash Hits, before working as a Contributing Editor at the Sunday Times and Marie Claire magazine. In 1997, Kate began her second career in television on the ITV current affairs’ programme Straight Up, and has also hosted talk shows and documentaries on Radio 2.

Kate is conscious of the need for women to take control of their financial futures and is also involved in The Wisdom Council’s Yes She Can programme.

Andrew G Haldane

Chief Economist Bank of England

Andrew G Haldane is the Chief Economist at the Bank of England. He is a member of the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee and Chair of the Government’s Industrial Strategy Council. Among other positions, he is Honorary Professor at University of Nottingham, a Visiting Fellow at Nuffield College, Oxford, a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences and Governor of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research.

He has authored around 200 articles and 4 books. Andrew is the founder and trustee of ‘Pro Bono Economics’, a charity which brokers economists into charitable projects and Vice-Chair of National Numeracy.

Dr Heather Melville OBE

Director People Networks & Client Relationship Programmes, PWC

Dr. Heather Melville, OBE is a thought leader on leadership, an innovator in business and has a notable track record of delivering strong financial performance and building high performing inclusive teams across both financial and professional services.

Heather also holds a number of Trustee positions: Chair of Chartered Management Institute Women, Board Trustee CMI and Enfield Enterprise, Patron of Women in Banking and Finance and, most recently, a member of the PwC Colour Brave Charity Committee.

Iris Bohnet

Academic Dean of Harvard Kennedy School

Iris Bohnet, the Albert Pratt Professor of Business and Government, is the Academic Dean of Harvard Kennedy School. She is a behavioral economist, combining insights from economics and psychology to improve decision-making in organizations and society, often with a gender or cross-cultural perspective.

Her most recent research examines behavioral design to de-bias how we live, learn and work. She is the author of the award-winning book What Works: Gender Equality by Design, and advises governments and companies on the topic around the world. Professor Bohnet is the co-director of the Women and Public Policy Program and the faculty chair of the executive program “Global Leadership and Public Policy for the 21st Century” for the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders.

Anna Lane

WIBF President

Anna is CEO and President of Women in Banking & Finance and passionate about gender equality. She is also the founder and CEO of The Wisdom Council (TWC), where she focuses on delivering strategic, innovative and actionable strategies to improve consumer engagement and financial awareness. TWC is a partner with the London School of Economics to support WIBF’s Accelerating Change Together research programme.

Anna recently sat on the Money and Pensions Service – Gender and Financial Wellbeing Challenge, bringing a gender lens to the UK Strategy for Financial Wellbeing. In 2019, Anna launched the cross-industry Yes She Can initiative, focusing on closing the gender gap in pensions and investments. Prior to launching TWC, Anna ran a specialist consultancy and worked in the City for over 20 years in senior roles at JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley.

Vivienne Artz OBE

Chief Privacy Officer & Managing Director, LSEG

Vivienne is Managing Director and Chief Privacy Officer at the London Stock Exchange Group (LGEG), leading the global Privacy Office and overseeing global privacy strategy and practice.

Previously, Vivienne was the Chief Privacy Officer at Refinitiv and Thomson Reuters, and Managing Director and Global Head of Privacy Legal & Head of International for the Intellectual Property and Technology Law Group at Citi. Prior to joining Citi in 2000, Vivienne worked in private practice in London.
Vivienne is on the Advisory Board of Women in Banking and Finance, having been President and CEO from 2017-2020.

Vivienne is a recognised gender champion and leader having been awarded the Champion for Women Award at the Women in Banking and Finance Awards for Achievement 2016.

The Judges

Ann Cairns

Executive Vice Chair ,Mastercard

In her role as Executive Vice Chairman Ann represents Mastercard around the world, focusing on inclusion, diversity and innovation. She plays the important role of senior ambassador and executive leader and sits as part of the company’s global management committee. Prior to her current appointment, Ann was President of International Markets responsible for the management of all Mastercard customer-related activities in over 200 countries.

Ann brings more than 20 years’ experience working in senior management positions across Europe and the U.S. Prior to joining Mastercard in 2011, Ann was head of the Financial Services Group with Alvarez & Marsal, CEO of Transaction Banking at ABNAMRO and held senior positions at Citigroup.

Ann is currently chair of ICE Clear Europe, owned by the Fortune 500 company Intercontinental Exchange (ICE). She is also global co-chair of the 30% Club, the chair of the Financial Alliance for Women and serves as a member of the UK government’s AI Council and the IBDE advisory board.

She has a Pure Mathematics degree and honorary doctorate from Sheffield University and a M.Sc. with research into medical statistics and honorary doctorate from Newcastle University.

Charlotte Crosswell

CEO, Innovate Finance

Charlotte Crosswell is the CEO of Innovate Finance, the industry body
representing the UK FinTech sector. Prior to joining Innovate Finance, she spent most of her financial services
career in market infrastructure roles. Prior to joining Innovate Finance, Charlotte
was Founder and CEO at two Nasdaq owned London start up exchanges in
equities and fixed income, and sat on the board of LCH Ltd. She has held a
number of management positions at Nasdaq and London Stock Exchange across
international capital markets, equities, fixed income, OTC derivatives trading and
clearing.

In addition to her work with Innovate Finance, Charlotte advises and sits on the
boards of Government FinTech advisory groups, technology companies and
FinTech startups. and has been working with technology companies throughout
her career. Charlotte holds a BA (Hons.) in French from the Southampton
University. She has been included in the list of top 100 Women in Finance over
many years.

Sue Dawe

Managing Partner and Head of Financial Services in Scotland for EY

Sue leads EY’s Financial Services Practice in Scotland and is the Managing Partner for the Edinburgh office. She has 30 years of experience within the financial services sector. She joined EY in 1988, became a partner in 2009, and was appointed Head of Financial Services Scotland in 2016. She is a member of EY’s UKFS Leadership team and a member of the EY UK LLP Board. Sue is on the Financial Services Advisory Board (FiSAB) and on the Board of Scottish Financial Enterprise (SFE).

Sue is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland and has a degree in Accountancy and Finance from Heriot Watt University.

Philip Grant

Chair of the Scottish Executive Committee of Lloyds Banking Group

Philip is Chair of the Scottish Executive Committee of Lloyds Banking Group and responsible for the Group across Scotland. This is in addition to his role as Chief Operating Officer, Insurance & Wealth Division of LBG which includes Scottish Widows.

Philip is Chair of the Scottish Financial Enterprise and Co-Chair of the First Minister’s Advisory Board on Financial Services, Council Member of CBI Scotland, Chair of the Board of the Bank of Scotland Foundation and a Past President of the Chartered Bankers Institute.

Philip was educated in the West of Scotland, prior to joining Bank of Scotland. Having spent nine years in a range of retail banking roles, he completed a full time MBA at the University of Strathclyde, sponsored by the Bank.

His career then progressed through various leadership roles in Corporate and Retail Banking.

Dame Cilla Snowball

Governor, Wellcome Trist, Mon-Executive Director, Derwent London, PLC

Dame Cilla Snowball is a Governor of the Wellcome Trust, Chair of the GREAT Private Sector Council and a Non-Executive Director of Derwent London plc.

She is the former Chair of the Women’s Business Council.

She led the UK’s biggest advertising agency Abbott Mead Vickers until December 2018, where she had worked for 26 years.

She was awarded a damehood in June 2017 for services to advertising, diversity and equality.