ABN AMRO and gender equality: welcome to the new normal

These days, the corporate world is making great strides as it focuses on equal opportunities and equal pay. But behind true equality lies so much more.

“Society is largely organised from a male perspective,” says Gitte Wouters, a stakeholder manager and social impact lead at ABN AMRO. “It’s also common in the financial sector to view products, services, information, risks and opportunities through a male lens. Unfortunately, that lens often ends up short-changing a lot of women.”

Dialogues with stakeholders

When examining and developing such themes, it’s important to involve stakeholders. That’s why ABN AMRO recently held several stakeholder dialogues on gender equality.

Gitte says, “The dialogues generate valuable input and suggestions for defining the bank’s position and policies. Plus our stakeholders have different backgrounds, so that helps us understand our role even better. The dialogues have also clarified where it is that we should be prioritising and taking action.”

Appealing more to women

“One aspect of the dialogue related specifically to the services the bank provides to its female clients,” explains Gitte. “Research shows that women are generally less satisfied with financial services than their male counterparts are. Women place more importance on a financial adviser they click with. They also feel less understood by their financial advisers than men do. Unconscious biases on both sides play a role here.”

ABN AMRO is already taking major steps in this area. “We’re working on a plan to better identify our female clients’ needs and improve the ability of staff to ensure that our services appeal more effectively to women,” says Chantal Korteweg, a senior strategy consultant at the bank. “Our aim is to broaden our appeal to these clients and increase customer satisfaction. These changes will allow us as a bank to play a more meaningful role in society by financially empowering more women. Plus it’s just good business.”

The stakeholder dialogue revealed other issues, Chantal says: “We need to be focusing on promoting financial literacy among our female clients. We should also be looking at how we communicate, tailoring our message more specifically to this target group. One way is to raise awareness among female clients of important life moments with a potential impact on their financial situation.”

Policies

To gain more insight into how the bank can hone its corporate lending policies, ABN AMRO recently organised separate dialogues with civil society organisations, the Dutch trade union FNV and clients in the fashion industry.

Discussions were held about which gender-specific criteria the bank should use to better understand how companies deal with gender differences when it comes to human rights. Do they have a clear picture of the risks involved? How are those risks mitigated? What policies or processes have textile manufacturers put in place to safeguard gender-specific human rights? What approach is taken to maternity leave, sexual harassment and gender-based violence? Can employees lodge complaints if they are affected by these issues? What steps are companies taking to ensure proper monitoring? Gitte adds, “These conversations have given us a better understanding of how we might fine-tune our lending policies to reflect gender-specific issues.”

The new normal

“As a bank, we have not just an opportunity but also a duty to ensure that gender equality is the new normal in society, as the stakeholder dialogue concluded. That’s why we need to proactively put this issue on the agenda. We should also be aware that this is really about a cultural change,” underscores Gitte. “In addition to the aspect of culture, ABN AMRO can do a great deal to put gender equality and inclusion on the agenda. To be successful, we have to assess all the bank’s activities from a new perspective – through a gender lens. Only with that clarity will we be able to work towards ensuring true gender equality. And that’s what we’re committed to.”