Breakthrough banker: Being a woman helps
The Scots banker poised to take the helm at US financial giant Citigroup has revealed that being a woman has given her more freedom as a boss.
Jane Fraser will become the first female chief executive of a major Wall Street bank and will have 200,000 employees working under her when she takes over in February.
And she believes that being a woman has helped rather than hindered her career in the traditionally male-dominated banking industry.
She told the Financial Times: “I think being a woman has been helpful. You are a bit different from other leaders, immediately you look different. I’ve always enjoyed the fact you can therefore play the game differently, you’ve almost got licence to have more degrees of freedom, and that’s been fun.”
She will try to ensure more women follow in her footsteps: It’s good for business. It makes for a healthier culture.”
Ms Fraser was born in St Andrews, but left Scotland to
study economics at Cambridge before landing a job at Goldman Sachs in London. Early in her career she also worked for Goldman Sachs in Spain, where she cast aside the bankers’ uniform of “drab grey coats” after being inspired by the colourful clothes worn by Spanish women.
She said: “They were powerful and they were feminine.”
Ms Fraser, 53, is married to Bert Piedra, a former head of global banking, and they have two sons. She worked part-time at a management consultancy when the children were young but found it exhausting to juggle work and motherhood.
Her career soared after her husband stepped down in 2009.