LESS than a fifth of senior executives at financial firms are women, according to a report published today.

A study of 280 banks, building societies and other financial service companies shows that only 18.5 per cent of chief executives, chief finance officers and board directors are female.

At Britain’s five biggest banks, the figure is only slightly higher, at 28 per cent.

Simon Mansfield of DHR International, which carried out the study, said: “The percentage of women on the boards of the largest banks is substantially higher than the rest of the UK’s banks and building societies. This would suggest that firms that have been put under the spotlight are beginning to improve.”

The financial services field has the biggest wage gap in Britain between men and women at 34 per cent, according to a recent report by international financial corporation PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Closing the gender pay gap across the board would add £150 billion to Britain’s economy by 2025, equality think tank the Fawcett Society says.