Banks setting gender targets
Discussing ways to increase female representation on corporate boards
TORONTO Canada’s banks can and should make a big difference in getting more women on corporate boards, executives said during a panel discussion at the Ontario Securities Commission Tuesday.
“We need the banks and the bank CEOs, who are way out ahead on this,” said Alex Johnston, executive director of Catalyst Canada. She said company leaders must be convinced to view targets for female representation like any other business goal setting, rather than as a kind of quota.
Victor Dodig, chief executive of Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, was on the panel and rose to the challenge, pledging to include gender targets in the bank’s next governance report to regulators.
“You should push us to not only make sure there’s an articulated policy but (push us on) what we’re doing to make it real,” Dodig told the gathering at the regulator’s headquarters in Toronto.
CIBC is “zeroing in” on 30 per cent female representation on the board of directors and is in the “high 20s” for executives, Dodig said after the discussion.
“Our goal is to continue to move that upward because it’s good for the company, it’s good for our culture, it’s good for business. It’s very straightforward for us.”
Kathleen Taylor, chair of Royal Bank of Canada, said the distinction between targets and quotas is crucial.
“Targets should be aspirational,” she said, adding companies should not fear being punished if they don’t meet the target immediately.
“These are medium-term to long-term objectives that businesses ought to be focused on,” she said, adding investors could challenge a company’s diversity goals as they do with other targets such as customer retention.
The panel discussion took place the day after Canadian regulators across the country published the first report on gender representation since new rules came into effect in December. The “comply or explain” rules were introduced af- ter the Ontario government asked the OSC to explore how to get more women on corporate boards and into senior executive roles.
Monday’s report, which showed few companies are setting concrete targets and many insist “merit” alone should be driving executive and board appointments, urged companies to do more to consider the representation of women, explain how this is done, and measure their progress.
Howard Wetston, chair of the OSC, concluded Tuesday’s panel discussion by taking aim at critics who say regulators are “meddling in societal goals” beyond their realm.
“I think that is not understanding what this rule in all about — what we are trying to achieve,” Wetston said, explaining he believes diversity strengthens companies that in turn drive the economy.
“We are not going to drop the ball on this issue. We will continue the momentum,” he said. “We must do that.”
We are not going to drop the ball on this issue. We will continue the momentum.