Women in Finance Charter 2025

A summary of our annual update

At Wesleyan, we strive to create a workplace where every colleague is respected, valued, and encouraged to bring their authentic selves to work.

Building a diverse and inclusive workforce

At Wesleyan, we are proud to have met — and exceeded — our 2025 target of 42% female representation in senior leadership roles, reaching 44.4% by 1 September 2025, up from 43.5% in 2024. We’ve also increased overall female representation across our workforce from 47% to 48%, maintained 30% female representation on our Board and 40% representation on our Group Executive Committee.

These milestones reflect our continued commitment to building a diverse and inclusive workplace that mirrors the customers and communities we serve. We believe that linking executive pay to gender diversity targets has been an effective lever, reinforcing that DEI is as critical to our success as financial and operational performance. However, our progress is the result of sustained, organisation-wide efforts.

Mario Mazzocchi, Chief Executive Officer, says: "At Wesleyan, inclusion is not a side initiative, it’s central to how we lead, grow, and serve. We’re proud of the progress we’ve made, and we remain committed to creating a culture where everyone can thrive."

Lisa Perkins, HR Director, says: "Our DEI strategy is about accountability, equity, and action. We’re embedding inclusive practices at every level, from recruitment to reward, to ensure lasting change."

Supporting our Charter pledge

To support our Charter pledge, we’ve implemented a range of initiatives:

  • Inclusive hiring practices

    • We use language decoders for job ads, expect diverse shortlists from agencies, and ensure gender-diverse interview panels.

  • Empowering high-potential women

    • We invest in coaching and development to support career growth.

  • Flexible working

    • We’ve signed the ABI’s Making Flexible Work Charter and updated our policy to promote flexibility for all roles.

  • Life event support

    • We have guidelines for menopause and pregnancy loss to support colleagues through significant life events.

  • Pay equity

    • We apply a gender lens to all pay decisions and transparently report our gender pay gap.

2025 - 2026 DEI strategy

Our 2025 - 2026 DEI strategy builds on this foundation with five key priorities, including:

  • Greater senior leadership accountability through DEI dashboards, so that leadership teams can take positive action to address any divisional inequities
  • Increasing diverse representation at Team Leader and above grades, including widening our LTIP targets from 2027
  • Strengthening pay equity and continuing pay gap reporting for gender and ethnicity
  • Improving data disclosure and definitions for disability and social mobility

We remain focused on supporting women at all levels to achieve their career ambitions, while also advancing inclusion across ethnicity, LGBTQ+ representation, and mental and physical well-being.