European Banking Authority peer review finds most supervisors meet benchmarks on gender diversity in management bodies but flags gaps in benchmarking follow-up

The European Banking Authority has published a peer review of how supervisors implement and oversee gender diversity policies in the management bodies of financial institutions, focusing on the application of Capital Requirements Directive requirements and EBA Guidelines. The review of six competent authorities found that most have largely or fully met the benchmarks and generally supervise and implement gender diversity policies effectively. Shortcomings were identified, particularly around supervisors’ own benchmarking of diversity policies. Three authorities were rated as partially applied overall on this benchmark, and five out of six were partially applied on the criterion covering the further use of their benchmarking results. The EBA recommends strengthening the collection and publication of supervisors’ benchmarking outcomes to improve transparency and support peer comparisons by credit institutions, alongside individual and general follow-up measures and best practices to enhance supervisory consistency across the EU. In line with Article 30 of the EBA Founding Regulation, the EBA is expected to assess the adequacy and effectiveness of actions taken in response to the peer review two years after the review.