Savings, investing & the gender divide: What’s changing and why it matters

Finance Director at Aldermore Bank Anna Homewood

Anna Homewood is a qualified accountant with extensive leadership experience in the banking industry. At Aldermore Bank, she leads the Group Financial Planning & Analytics team. In this role, Anna oversees strategic planning, forecasting, business partnering, pricing governance, and executive reporting.

Alongside her finance career, Anna is a passionate advocate for Diversity & Inclusion. She co‑chairs Aldermore’s Family & Carer’s Employee Network and has served as a Board Trustee for the national charity Working Families since 2025. The charity is dedicated to removing the barriers faced by people with caring responsibilities in the workplace.

Anna’s commitment to supporting working parents is grounded in her own lived experience. As a senior leader and mother of two young boys, she understands first‑hand the importance of flexible, supportive work environments in helping parents to thrive both at work and at home.

Managing Director, Workplace Savings, Legal & General Katharine Photiou

Katharine is the Managing Director of L&G’s 5.5-million-member Workplace Savings business. It’s a growth area for the Group with over £90bn assets under management, including the UK's largest commercial master trust.

She’s focused on driving better outcomes for its members by understanding their financial needs and helping them plan for their retirement at every stage of their working lives. She also serves as CEO of the Portfolio Management Services business.

Katharine has been with L&G since 2015, and brings over 30 years’ experience in employee benefits and corporate consulting, including senior roles at Friends Provident, Barclays Personal & Corporate Banking and Mercer. In 2024, Professional Pensions magazine recognised her career achievements with the Women in Pensions Lifetime Achievement Award.

She graduated from Lancaster University with a BSc in Marketing. She’s also achieved a range of Chartered Insurance Institute Qualifications and more recently the plus SAFe 4 Agilist certification. She’s passionate about driving innovation in pensions and wider savings. On a more personal level she’s married, lives in London and supports a number of animal welfare charities.