Recognized commitment to promoting gender equality: Erste Group is a member of the 2020 Bloomberg GEI

Erste Group Bank AG (“Erste Group”) today announced that it is one of 325 companies across 50 industries from 42 countries and regions around the world included in the 2020 Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index (GEI). Companies range from a variety of industries, including automotive, banking, consumer services, engineering and construction, and retail. Through disclosure of gender-related metrics using the GEI framework, the firms included in the 2020 GEI have provided a comprehensive look at their investment in workplace gender equality and the communities in which they operate. Erste Group was included in this year’s index for scoring at or above a global threshold established by Bloomberg to reflect a high level of disclosure and overall performance across the framework’s five pillars.

“Our renewed inclusion in Bloomberg’s Gender-Equality Index is welcome recognition of the work that we put into advancing the aim of gender-equality in the workplace,” said Julia Valsky, the head of Diversity Management at Erste Group. “Providing women with equal opportunities to advance in their careers is something that is deeply rooted in the inclusive principles on which Erste was founded two hundred years ago. We’ve made notable progress in making sure women can excel within our group, even if we have not yet managed to reach our target of having a 35 percent female-share in top management positions across all our markets. We will keep working on that. In pursuing greater gender-equality, we will also continue to pursue policies that are based on evidence, facts and analysis – which is also why we view the Bloomberg GEI as a uniquely useful benchmark.”

GEI sets a global standard for measuring gender-equality measures and policies

The GEI tracks the financial performance of public companies committed to supporting gender equality through policy development, representation, and transparency. The reference index measures gender equality across five pillars: female leadership and talent pipeline, equal pay and gender pay parity, inclusive culture, sexual harassment policies, and pro-women brand. This year, Bloomberg expanded the eligibility for inclusion in the index to nearly 6,000 companies across 84 countries and regions.

"The 325 companies included in the 2020 GEI have shown their commitment to transparency and demonstrated leadership in gender-related data reporting," said Peter T. Grauer, Chairman of Bloomberg. "Disclosure of company statistics and practices is an important first step in supporting gender equality globally."

Gender equality a key focus at Erste Group

Erste Group defines diversity and inclusion as an integral part of its corporate strategy and states this commitment clearly in its Statement of Purpose and its Code of Conduct. The Vienna-headquartered banking group actively promotes a work environment free of discrimination and harassment and values the work and worth of each and every person regardless of gender, age, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, skin colour, religious or political affiliation, ethnic background, nationality or any other aspect unrelated to their employment.

Erste Group has implemented a variety of initiatives to support the development of female leadership. In 2019, Alexandra Habeler-Drabek became the first woman to be appointed to the Management Board of Erste Group. The overall proportion of women in top management across Erste Group is currently at 29%, while 39% of the positions in Erste Group’s Supervisory Board were filled by women as per 31 December 2019. To further increase the number of women in top management, Erste Group aims for a better gender balance in its talent pools and offers mentoring programs for its female talents. In Austria, the Erste Women’s Hub employee resource group has continued key initiatives such as networking events, new formats of exchange for mothers and fathers on parental leave and “Erste WIT”, an initiative which strives to encourage more women to pursue careers in IT.