City considers shorter trading day to attract more female staff
CITY lobby groups have opened talks with banks and investors about shortening stock market trading hours in a radical move aimed at helping working parents.
The plans, which are at the early discussion stage, are aimed at ending the era of testosterone-fuelled trading rooms by encouraging more women not to drop out of senior City jobs due to childcare issues.
Simon Lewis, the boss of bank lobby group the Association for Financial Markets in Europe, said: “Compressed market opening times is an issue we are discussing with our members.”
“Work is at an early stage but we are supportive, in principle, of proposals that would encourage more flexible working practices in the European equities trading market and that could help to promote increased diversity in the sector.”
The Investment Association (IA), which represents Britain’s £7.7 trillion funds industry, has also begun talks about a shorter day with its members.
According to Financial News, which first reported the talks, the options being discussed include opening equity markets an hour later at 9am and closing an hour earlier at 3.30pm. One source said that the proposals have not yet reached consultation stage. The move is the latest example of the male-dominated financial services industry trying to change its image in a bid to retain more female staff.
Earlier this year, the London Metal Exchange introduced a code of conduct for the first time in its 142-year history, months after one of its members held a networking event at the Playboy Club in Mayfair during LME Week that has previously seen strippers give traders the password “metal” for free entry into Stringfellows.
Meanwhile, the 333-year-old insurance market Lloyd’s of London this year decided to close its on-site pub and introduce a stricter code of conduct after it was rocked by allegations of sexual harassment and bullying against female staff.
Just 13pc of individuals with approval from the Financial Conduct Authority are women. Megan Butler, the FCA’S most senior female regulator, told The Daily Telegraph last year she had to fight to keep her professional position when she first became a mother and so deliberately never discussed her family life in the office.
A spokesman for the IA said the group has a strong interest in culture across the industry “and how this can play a pivotal role in fostering good mental health and creating inclusive workplaces”.