"What's Britain's gender pay gaps say about performance"/ "HSBC's 59% gender pay gap is largest among UK banks"

Mar. 16, 2018 "What's Britain's gender pay gaps say about performance": Today I found this article by Elaine He in the Globe and Mail:

Every day that draws closer to the April 4 deadline for British companies to declare their gender pay gaps brings a pickup in the number of reports on file, and these cement the sad truth that men tend to get paid more than women.

Only about a fifth of the companies who must submit their wage data have done so. Of the approximately 1,800 entities that filed as of Friday, fewer than 100 were listed companies or their subsidiaries.

For these entities, which are subject to much greater public scrutiny, it is stark how men dominate the upper-middle and highest pay quartiles. Though there are variations across industries -- finance tends to have bigger gaps, and consumer staples smaller ones -- U.K. Plc is very much the purview of men. 

This raises the question of whether there’s any connection between gender pay gaps and performance, as measured by total returns. The data submitted so far show little relationship between the two. This suggests that leadership by men is not a prerequisite for good performance -- the companies in both scatterplots show returns ranged from the truly dismal to the marvelous. 

These charts show a roughly flat relationship of pay gaps and total returns on a one-year basis...

...and on a five-year basis.

This analysis is preliminary. Thousands more U.K. companies have yet to report, and the picture could change as new data come in.

But it’s not too soon to consider why there are so few women in positions of power. Companies have commented on their commitment to advancing women alongside their damning government-mandated pay-gap reports.

However, women are less likely than men to be pushed to take on more responsibility, or compensated for doing a good job, according to a YouGov survey. And, they’re more likely to face questions on their commitment to their employer.

Given the new transparency in pay reporting, perhaps now there’s scope for seeing measurable improvement in the number of women taking charge at British companies.

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Elaine He is Bloomberg Gadfly’s data visualization columnist in Europe, focusing on business and markets coverage. Before joining Bloomberg, she was a graphics editor at the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/what-the-uks-gender-pay-gaps-say-about-performance-gadfly/2018/03/15/4aa12370-2823-11e8-a227-fd2b009466bc_story.html?utm_term=.fb4c6c3ed2a7

"HSBC's 59% gender pay gap is largest among UK banks": Today I found this article by Karin Strohecker and Laurence White in the Globe and Mail:

LONDON (Reuters) - HSBC (HSBA.L) will reveal a gender pay gap of 59 percent at its main UK banking operation, the biggest yet disclosed by a British bank, according to a copy of the lender’s report on the subject seen by Reuters on Thursday ahead of its publication.

The bank will also disclose a mean gender bonus gap of 86 percent at HSBC Bank Plc, which is the biggest of the lender’s seven entities in Britain and employs 23,507 people.

A spokeswoman for the bank confirmed the contents of the report. 

The gender pay gap is the biggest yet reported by a British financial firm, according to

 government data, with some firms yet to provide figures ahead of an April deadline set by 

Prime Minister Theresa May last year. 

Almost 50 years since the passage of Britain’s equal pay act, the continued gulf in earnings 

between men and women has attracted significant public attention over the past year or so.

In common with other banks, HSBC said its pay gap was largely accounted for by the 

bank having fewer women in senior roles. 

The gender pay gap measures the difference between the average salary of men and 

women, calculated on an hourly basis.

HSBC said women held only 23 percent of senior leadership positions in its 

workforce in Britain, despite accounting for more than half of total staff. 

The bank said it was taking a number of steps to reduce the pay gap, including committing 

to an aspirational target of women holding 30 percent of senior roles by 2020. 

Last month, Asia-focused Standard Chartered reported a gap of 30 percent in Britain, while

Virgin Money - the only major UK lender run by a woman - said its female staff earned on 

average 32.5 percent less per hour than its male workforce. 

Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY.L) and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L) reported gender pay gaps of 32.8 percent and 37 percent respectively. 

Barclays said last month it paid women in its international division, which houses its 

investment bank, on average 48 percent of what men earned in fixed pay. 

The pay gaps have drawn criticism from lawmakers and are likely to spur questions from 

investors in the upcoming season for shareholder meetings, with stock prices and future 

earnings potential strongly linked to banks’ efforts to revive their reputations in the wake of 

the global financial crisis. 

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-hsbc-gender-pay-exclusive/exclusive-hsbc-has-59-percent-gender-pay-gap-biggest-among-british-banks-idUSKCN1GR1PT