The Treasury says that a further 26 companies have signed up to the Women in Finance Charter, including Old Mutual Wealth, Allianz, the Bank of England, Deloitte and Tesco Bank - increasing the number of employees covered by the Charter to over 600,000.

More than one in two employees in financial services now works in a firm covered by the Charter.

To coincide with the news, in collaboration with the Treasury, Virgin Money has created a Women in Finance app to support companies who want to sign the Charter and take action to improve gender balance in their organisations.

The Treasury’s Women in Finance Charter asks financial firms to commit to four industry actions to prepare talented female staff for leadership positions. Over 600,000 employees in the UK – over half of those employed in the financial services sector - are now covered by the plan, an increase of over 43,000 since July this year.

Since the Charter launched, 120 financial services firms and organisations, including the FCA, have committed to have at least 30% women in senior roles by 2021 and of those, 40 firms have committed to a 50/50 gender split in senior roles by 2021. Today’s new signatories will announce their targets in February 2018.

Among the new signatories are RSA Group, Allianz Insurance, UK Finance, Old Mutual Wealth and Funding Circle. Existing signatories include Aberdeen Asset Management, BNY Mellon, the Chartered Insurance Institute, Financial Planning group Independent Women, Fidelity, NS&I, Nucleus, Prudential, Standard Life and the Investment Association.

Economic Secretary to the Treasury, Stephen Barclay MP, said: “This is another excellent group of signatories to the Women in Finance Charter. Their actions, alongside those of the other signatories, have the potential to make the UK’s pre-eminent financial services sector more representative and more inclusive. I’m keen to see even more firms follow their example and make a positive, public commitment to improve gender balance in our financial services.”

Jayne-Anne Gadhia, CEO of Virgin Money and the government's Women in Finance Champion, said: “I’m delighted to see that 162 companies have now signed up to the Women in Finance Charter. Improving the gender balance of the financial services sector will undoubtedly improve productivity, profitability and outcomes for customers.

“There are a range of issues organisations must address to develop fully inclusive workplaces. Through a recent YouGov survey we asked managers in Financial Services how greater equality in Financial Services could be achieved and they identified 10 positive actions to help create the right culture.

“To drive change, the Women in Finance company signatories have collaborated to share best practice on these ten positive actions, which are now freely available through the ‘Women in Finance App’ which is launched today. I believe this innovation will help drive improved gender balance throughout the Financial Services industry.”