Retiring Men Lifted Women to Record Share of S&P; 500 Bank Boards

Women gained a larger share of board seats last month at five companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Banks Index as four men retired or stepped down, and Zions Bancorp expanded its board to include a new female director.

The shift, which increased the average number of women on bank boards to 4.5 from 4.4, highlights a tactic many companies are using to add seats for diverse members when male members depart, said Keith Meyer, the co-head of board and chief executive recruiting at Allegis Partners.

The 32.8% of women on bank boards rose from 32% in March and is the highest since Bloomberg began tracking the ratio in January 2019. That compares with 29.3% for the broader S&P 500 Index.

For some boards, the only way to gain diversity is adding seats because there aren’t enough members at retirement age, Meyer said. And waiting for men to retire is a long game. Only 16% of the independent directors on boards with age caps are within three years of mandatory retirement, and the average director age is 63, according to recruiter Spencer Stuart.

Male directors retired at SVB Financial Group, Citizens Financial Group Inc. and Wells Fargo & Co. Women also gained share at U.S. Bancorp as a male director there didn’t seek re-election.

Zions Bancorp increased the board size by one and appointed Maria Contreras-Sweet, former administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration, to the new spot. Sweet’s appointment also pushed women to representing a third of the company’s directors.

The alternative to expansion would be to actively manage out directors who aren’t fulfilling their duties, even if they aren’t at retirement age. Only about 20% of boards are willing to go that far, Meyer said.

• Zions Bancorp was the only company to increase the number of women directors

• Citigroup Inc. has the most women on its board
• Comerica Inc., People’s United Financial Inc., Regions Financial Corp., Wells Fargo and Citizens Financial Group have the fewest women on their boards
• US Bancorp and Citigroup have the youngest average board age, at 58 and 61 years, respectively

• Zions Bancorp reached 30% female board membership for the first time since at least January 2019; the number of S&P 500 Banks Index companies at or above this key threshold is now 12

• The Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index returned 4.3% in April, underperforming the MSCI World Index, which returned 4.7%

• The Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index is a modified capitalization-weighted index that tracks the financial performance of those companies committed to supporting gender equality through policy development, representation and transparency

S&P 500 Banks Index companies ranked by percentage of female board members:

Here are the details on the ages of board members and their tenures:

NOTE: Age data for a given company may be marked NA if a person’s age is not publicly disclosed by the company.

To see the percentage of women on a company board: {FA ESGG <GO>}

To see the percentage of women directors for each of the S&P 500 Banks Index companies: {S5BANKX Index GX <GO>}. In search box on top right, choose “% Women on Board.” Mouse over to get each company’s results.

To see more on Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index: {GEI <GO>}

To see more on Bloomberg’s ESG fields and sustainable finance solutions: {BESG <GO>}