‘Old Lady’ calls time on the city Gent in equality drive

Bank of England banishes words such as ‘chairman’ and ‘grandfathering’ in push for neutral language

THE Old Lady of Threadneedle Street might be no longer after the Bank of England promised to banish gendered language from its rule books.

The Bank, nicknamed The Old Lady for most of its 300-year history, will stop using masculine words such as “chairman” and “grandfathering” – a clause put in place between two sets of rules – in a bid to make sure its documents and letters are seen as gender neutral. Making the announcement in a 337-page update on the regulation of bank and insurance bosses, the plans also include changing how individuals are addressed as “his” or “her” in policy documents.

The proposals were made by the Bank’s Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), which supervises banks and insurers. They were said to reflect the Bank’s “commitment to encourage equality and diversity at regulated firms”. It will pay a one-off cost to change the wording of the so-called senior managers’ regime, created last March to monitor senior bank staff in response to the financial crisis, the idea being to eventually make all documents gender neutral.

The pledge comes amid intense scrutiny over the lack of women in senior jobs at Threadneedle Street, with just one woman, Silvana Tenreyo, on its powerful nine-member Monetary Policy Committee. Charlotte Hogg, who was seen as a potential successor to Mark Carney, the Governor, resigned earlier this year after failing to declare a potential conflict of interest. Nicky Morgan, the chairman of the Treasury select committee, raised her concerns about the lack of diversity at the Bank in October, making her dissatisfaction clear some weeks later when Philip Hammond, the Chancellor, responded.

“He did not confirm whether ‘all efforts’ are being made by the Treasury to encourage as diverse a range of candidates as possible for the Bank’s policy committees and senior positions,” she said.

It later emerged that male staff at the Bank were being paid almost a quarter more than female employees.

“Addressing the disparity in gender representation at senior levels will take time, but it will help close the current gender pay gap,” Mr Carney said at the time.

The central bank’s Old Lady nickname dates back to a cartoon published in 1797.

The image shows then prime minister William Pitt the Younger wooing an old lady dressed in £1 and £2 notes, with the woman embodying the Bank and a treasure chest representing its reserves.

It is unclear how the Bank’s push on general neutral language will change that moniker. “Old Lady was given to us as a nickname almost 300 years ago so we won’t be commenting on that,” a spokesman said.