KPMG’s Woman in Banking Network Steering Committee

The KPMG Women in Banking Steering Committee is responsible for overseeing and managing the Women in Banking Network, which champions the success of women within the Banking Audit practice. The network is dedicated to empowering and connecting women, fostering a supportive and inclusive environment that promotes professional growth and collaboration. Recognising that true success requires bringing everyone along, the committee actively seeks allies and advocates to support its cause, viewing this as essential for creating a more sustainable banking audit practice.

What inspired the creation of the Women in Banking Network, and how has the steering committee evolved its strategy to meet the needs of women in the Banking Audit practice?

The Women in Banking Network was set up as a platform to connect women during the COVID-19 pandemic, where people were isolated at home. While the creation of the network was circumstantial to the lockdown, the core aim of the network was to address the insufficient female leadership in the Banking Audit department in our firm. Recognising the value of a bonded community of women, the network further developed its role in championing the success of women in the Banking department by creating the following four pillars of strategies:

1. Sponsorship programmes – where the aim is to provide support and coaching to all female senior managers to assist them in mapping out their pathway to promotion in the firm.
2. Events – which includes a wide variety of events including external guest speakers, internal panels, knowledge sharing and Q&A sessions, networking events, and other sessions to promote understanding and allyship to create a more supportive environment.
3. Communication – via a re-launch of our Teams channel where we share news, upcoming events, etc. In addition, we are also running a series of periodic check-in sessions with women in the department to track progress and understand barriers to achieving success.
4. Collaboration – which includes collaborating with smaller communities that fall under the broader woman in banking umbrella as well as wider communities within the firm, including the women in FS network.

The senior manager sponsorship programme has been highly successful. What challenges did the committee face in launching and sustaining this programme, and what advice would you give to other organisations looking to create similar initiatives?

The programme is a 1 to 1 mentorship programmes for all female senior managers in the department, where the aim is to provide support and coaching to these women to focus on their careers in long term.

Although the manager sponsorship programme has achieved resounding success, with the promotion of two female senior managers to director last year (a first for our banking department!), we did face challenges initially. One major challenge was building trust between the sponsor and the senior manager so that open conversations can be carried out about their careers, especially when the senior manager is sponsored by a senior member of the firm that she is unfamiliar with.

For those who are exploring similar initiatives, we recommend scheduling compulsory regular touchpoints as subgroups. This includes between sponsors, between the individuals being sponsored and most importantly between the sponsor and the individual being sponsored to increase connectivity between the members in the programme and encourage participation. Besides that, having the support of sponsors who are sufficiently senior within the firm is also crucial to the success of programmes like this.

Your work with external guest speakers and leadership panels has had a significant impact on promoting allyship and understanding. What key takeaways from these events have contributed to fostering a more inclusive culture in the Banking Audit department?

This year, our conversation with Sally Clark, who is the audit committee chair at Citi Bank, brought fresh insights and inspired the audience to stand up for both others and ourselves as a woman or a minority in the department. Our key takeaways are below:

1. Kindness is not softness – for those who are leaders, leading with kindness inspires team members to excel which leads to an overall improvement of team performance. This includes treating team members fairly – just as you would treat your friends and family, providing frequent positive affirmation, and valuing different perspectives that team members bring to the table.
2. Confronting imposter syndrome – most people experience imposter syndrome, even though we often think that we are the only ones struggling with it. The best way to overcome this is to “fake it till you make it”. The more you practice it, the more confident you are in a role.
3. Don’t see the glass ceiling – if you think there are inclusivity barriers in promotions etc, have the courage to look beyond the barriers and reach for opportunities that you think might not be possible due to the glass ceiling. Don’t let the glass ceiling prevent you from even applying for the opportunity.
4. Be bold – do not be ashamed to be yourself at work, and at the same time encourage others to do the same. We should be comfortable at work being who we are and celebrate diversity of team members.

What have been the most significant challenges in addressing unconscious bias, communication barriers, and team dynamics, and how have you engaged leadership to create meaningful change?

The biggest barrier faced in addressing these hurdles is recognising the situations where these issues are occurring. It is challenging to get people to call out bad behaviour when it is happening, either because they would like to avoid conflict, they feel that speaking out will not make an impact, or they think they will be punished for calling this out.

To address this, we organise regular catch ups such as temperature check in sessions with the senior manager group to create a situation where people could speak out comfortably. Besides that, we have collated some key themes on an anonymous basis from these sessions which we feed back to the partner group in the Banking department, where the partners are asked to reflect on the feedback and make changes going forward.

We have also held grade-targeted panel events on IDE topics so that members of the department are more comfortable in sharing their personal stories and thoughts. By choosing specific panellists and questions to help create a safe and open environment, audience members feel comfortable sharing personal experiences and asking uncomfortable questions. These themes are then summarised and shared with the senior leadership group of the Banking department so they are aware of the barriers our group is facing, and solutions can be developed together. Key takeaways / actions, that need to stem from the tone at the top of our various engagement teams were then anonymously shared to the partner/director group.

Looking ahead, how do you plan to expand and adapt the Women in Banking Network’s initiatives, particularly in terms of supporting other under-represented groups and maintaining measurable progress in gender equity?

The committee is focused on bringing everyone, not just women, along on the journey. Last year the committee piloted the senior manager pathway programme for all senior managers within the department to support them with understanding the requirements and pre-requisites for being considered for progression to director and partner.

Looking forward, while also staying true to the roots of Women in Banking Steerco of gender equity, we are also planning to expand the sponsorship programme to include manager and assistant manager sessions, as we realise that these groups have similar confusion around the promotion process to senior manager and manager.

In addition to continue our sponsorship programmes and events, we are also looking to connect and collaborate with other inclusion and diversity networks in other firms, for inspirations on new initiatives and exchange of ideas over challenges we have in common. We hope that in collaborating with different networks, we can reach a wider audience and find different ways to empower and connect women in banking audit department and firm as a whole, while fostering a supportive and inclusive environment.