WIBF prides itself on its forward-thinking and emphatic thought leadership. With contributions from members who lead the industry, we aim to provoke discussion, debate and new ideas, all with the goal of making the industry better and brighter. If you would like to write for Thoughts & Opinions please email digital@wibf.org.uk

Dominie Moss
Career Management

Dominie Moss

Learn How To Pan for Gold

Dominie Moss founded The Return Hub which works with some of the finance industry’s largest employers, helping them to see the positive impact that returners can have.
Claire Calmejane

Claire Calmejane

#ChangetheRatio: why diversity at the top is still a conversation

Statistics show that only 17% of the ICT sector and 23% of the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) workforce in the UK are women - and at lower than a 1:5 ratio, significantly less than most other sectors. Worse still, this figure actually reflects a stall in female representation in the technology sector in the last decade.
Abigail Deffee

Abigail Deffee

“If you educate a woman, you educate a family. If you educate a girl, you educate the future.”

In October 2017 WIBF held an ecent at KPMG in London; Economic Empowerment of Africa’s Next Generation of Women. Abigail Deffee director of COINS Foundation attended and has shared with us her thoughts about the event.
Credit Suisse

Credit Suisse

Real Returns™ UK: Restart Your Career at Credit Suisse

For the fifth successive year, Credit Suisse is running the Real Returns program which is designed to re-engage experienced, talented professionals who have taken a voluntary career break and help facilitate their transition back into the workforce. Real Returns is a paid employment program that will run for 16 weeks, starting on March 26, 2018 and finishing July 13, 2018.
Lynne Connolly

Lynne Connolly

Gender Pay – Mind the Gap

Lynne Connolly is Global Head of Diversity and Inclusion for Standard Life Aberdeen Plc. She has shared a blog she has written about gender pay inequality in the UK.
Leigh Smyth

Leigh Smyth

Women in Technology

The digital and technology industries are among the fastest growing industries in the UK and we’ve seen first-hand here at Lloyds Banking Group (LBG) the huge take up of digital services by individuals and organisations over recent years. The demand for seamless and intuitive digital experiences is only set to increase in the future but as an industry, it is important that we face into the looming skills gap and do more to secure more women in digital and technology roles.
Wendy Papworth

Wendy Papworth

Barclays Welcome Back Programme – Supporting senior women to resume their careers

Wendy Papworth Director, Global Diversity and Inclusion Barclays Group HR tells us about Barclays Welcome Back Programme – Supporting senior women to resume their careers after long term absence
KPMG

KPMG

IT’s her Future- KPMG launches initiative to encourage women into Tech

KPMG launches ‘IT’s her future’ scheme by outlining five recommendations to help firms boost female talent in tech.
Jay Surti
Business Focus

Jay Surti

Do You Need a Title to be a Leader?

When you look up the Oxford Dictionary definition of “leader” it says: a person who leads a group of people, especially the head of a country, an organisation, etc. a person or thing that is the best, or in first place in a race, business, etc. That is the technical definition. But surely there are other definitions?
Dr Suzanne Doyle-Morris
Business Focus

Dr Suzanne Doyle-Morris

What Are We Really Talking About? Overcoming the ‘readiness’ myth

We have been interviewing board level men and a few women on what they think will drive gender balance forward for a new client. In several meetings we heard men claim they ‘are all for balance; but the women they know aren’t ready for leadership’. Later, we met another senior leader who exasperatedly said: ‘I see my colleagues take chances on younger men who are perhaps still a bit green. But when they look at female candidates as part of succession planning, they will say ‘she’s just not ready’.