The financial sector is at a critical juncture, with intentions on gender balance still outpacing outcomes. As the latest OMFIF Gender Balance Index notes, we are ‘on the precipice where intentions must translate into accelerated action’.
Across 335 institutions globally, the average GBI score, which measures the proportion of men and women in leadership roles, is just 42 out of 100 — less than halfway to gender parity. Only 16% of institutions are led by women, and women hold just 27% of deputy governor or C-suite roles, the very pipeline into top leadership.
‘You can’t improve what you don’t measure,’ the report cautions, and the data underline the urgency of maintaining focus, especially amid growing retrenchment around diversity commitments.
Some progress is evident. For the first time since the index began, three institutions – Banco Central de Chile, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and Norges Bank Investment Management – achieved perfect gender balance scores. The share of female leaders reached an all-time high of 16%, and 44% of institutions saw their scores increase.
However, new appointments for female governors fell to just 12% last year, the lowest in three years. Representation in senior roles has plateaued at 30% since 2021, with regional gaps persisting: North America and Europe lead, while Asia Pacific and the Middle East lag. Across all policy-making institutions, women remain underrepresented in decision-making and revenue-generating roles, limiting the pipeline to top leadership.
This is not simply an equity gap; it is a continued performance gap. McKinsey’s latest global analysis finds companies in the top quartile for gender diversity on executive teams have a 39% higher likelihood of financial outperformance, the strongest correlation recorded in a decade of tracking.
The missing link: pathways, not just parity
Gender balance will not be achieved through good intentions alone. As OMFIF’s findings show, the bottleneck lies not only at the summit but in the pathways that feed it. Women continue to cluster in enabling functions, while fewer gain exposure to profit-and-loss or policy-shaping roles. To move the dial, institutions must focus on the ‘broken rung’, the point where high-potential women stall before entering senior decision-making tracks.
Key levers include transparent criteria for promotions, deliberate cross-functional rotations and visible sponsorship. Yet one lever stands out as under-invested: building the leadership and policy capacity of women regulators and policy-makers themselves. Regulators and central bankers shape the financial systems that determine who is served and who is left behind. Without women at those tables, inclusive outcomes remain elusive.
From data to design: building pathways for women regulators
That is precisely where Women’s World Banking’s Leadership Development for Regulators programme comes in. The LDR equips senior officials and high-potential women leaders from central banks and regulatory agencies in emerging markets with the skills to advance women’s financial inclusion and champion gender-diverse leadership within their institutions.
Each institution nominates a pair: a senior official and a high-potential woman leader. Over six months of blended learning, including virtual sessions, one-to-one advisory support and an intensive week at Oxford University’s Saïd Business School, the pairs co-design and implement a real-world policy initiative that advances women’s financial inclusion in their home markets.
This dual-participant model is deliberate. It creates top-down sponsorship and bottom-up execution, linking leadership development to institutional reform. It also mirrors what OMFIF’s data calls for: structural interventions that turn individual advancement into systemic change.
What makes the model powerful
Each participating pair builds leadership capability at two levels: strategic influence among senior officials and operational leadership among emerging women leaders. This strengthens internal pipelines and embeds gender-aware thinking in policy processes.
Since 2019, the LDR has engaged more than 360 participants from 75 institutions across 49 countries. Together, these alumni regulate financial systems that serve roughly two-thirds of the world’s unbanked women, a reach that translates learning into real-world policy outcomes.
Evidence from past cohorts underscores the model’s effectiveness. Upon finishing the programme, 84% of participants report taking concrete steps towards implementing their policy action plans. One-third of institutions have implemented at least one policy designed through the LDR. Over 63% of emerging women leaders have expanded their scope of responsibility or achieved promotion. And two alumnae now serve as central bank governors, leading the very institutions they represented in the programme.
Bridging intention and impact
The LDR sits at the intersection of leadership development and gender-inclusive policy design, a combination that remains rare in the financial regulation landscape. It demonstrates how targeted investment in women’s leadership yields measurable returns not only for individuals but also for financial systems and the populations they serve.
As one participant noted, ‘This programme didn’t just discuss leadership, it equipped me to act on it. I left with the tools to build a more inclusive environment and the confidence to drive policy change.’
The results speak for themselves. More than four-fifths of participants report concrete policy progress, and a third have already seen their initiatives adopted or implemented. These outcomes compare favourably even against programmes in high-income markets, underscoring the power of structured, evidence-based approaches.
The road ahead
As the 2025 OMFIF Gender Balance Index reminds us, the challenge is not a shortage of female talent; it is a shortage of pathways. The LDR is helping to build those pathways, transforming data into design and aspiration into action.
To achieve real parity, the sector must scale models that bridge leadership and policy, turning inclusive intention into systemic change. Because when women lead in regulation, the rules of finance become more inclusive, and everyone benefits.
Learn more about Women’s World Banking’s Leadership Development for Regulators programme here.
Laura Cox is Director of Leadership Training Programmes, Women’s World Banking.
Interested in this topic? Subscribe to OMFIF’s newsletter for more.