Banks, women earn 23% less, but Italy does better than Germany and France

On the pay gap between men and women, in the financial sector, Italy does better than many other countries, from France to Germany. An analysis carried out by the Uilca Orietta Guerra Study Centre on more than twenty financial institutions in the European Union shows that the main banks and insurance companies have an overall higher pay gap than Italy. The fact remains, however, that the gender pay gap is a stumbling block to be overcome and, as Uilca Secretary General Fulvio Furlan says, 'the road to equality is still a long one', and to travel it 'trade union relations are central'.

According to Eurostat data, in 2023 the gender pay gap in Europe, in the financial sector, characterises most countries: in Italy it is 23%. Below the Italian average is Spain with 14%, above Germany with 27% and France with 32%. Among the reasons contributing to lower female remuneration, 'there is the male predominance in the front-office, in activities such as trading, investment fund management and private banking, which generate high variable remuneration. Women, on the contrary, are mainly employed in the back-office or in administrative services,' explains Roberto Telatin, head of the Uilca Orietta Guerra Study Centre, who expects many steps forward in the future. A first useful tool is the new S1-16 indicator - Remuneration Metrics that 'will mark a very important step forward on transparency as it will allow, even job seekers, to know what kind of professional environment to enter and the possible salary prospects,' Telatin continues. And then there is the EU directive on pay transparency, 970/2023: companies, as of 7 June 2027, will be required to adopt and report on concrete measures to ensure equal pay for men and women, establishing criteria for pay transparency and action against pay discrimination.

In 2024, according to Uilca's findings, in the largest Italian banking groups there was a gender pay gap ranging from 28.56% at Sparkasse to 11.35% at Monte dei Paschi di Siena. In between, Intesa Sanpaolo recorded 25.8%, Credem 24.29%, Unicredit 20%, Banco Bpm 16.6% and Bper 14.54%. In the insurance sector, the range goes from 29% for Reale Mutua to 14% for the Generali group. In Europe, the situation does not improve: the main banks and insurance companies show an overall higher pay gap than in Italy.

Reducing the pay gap is, however, fundamental, Furlan says, not only for a question of fairness, but also 'to guarantee women independence and autonomy and also to be able to avoid situations of economic violence, which is one of the causes of too many forms of gender violence. In Italy, banks and insurance companies are working to close this disparity, including in their industrial plans the objective of reducing the wage gap, as well as that of enhancing the value of female staff, but the data tell us that there is still a long way to go'.

When in Rome, the gender pay gap is not the same everywhere. Within the same banking group, it varies from country to country. The Unicredit Group, for example, has percentages ranging from 36% in Russia to 29% in Germany, 20% in Italy and 14% in Bosnia Herzegovina. "These variations," Furlan interprets, "suggest that at the basis of the gender pay gap there are not only company choices but also external factors, such as social history, the economic policy of the country, the role of welfare, both public and private, the level of public services, social expectations and the education system.