How AI Technology Could Help Women in Financial Services

Women hold 42% of roles in financial services but remain underrepresented in leadership positions.

Research from Nationwide, Bain & Company and Cambridge Judge Business School examines how AI could reshape progression pathways for female professionals in the sector.

The paper suggests AI could address gender imbalances rather than reinforce existing inequalities.

The technology could transform recruitment processes, leadership development and career advancement across financial services organisations.

Gender gap in leadership

According to the research, women occupy 36% of leadership roles but represent just 8% of CEOs in FTSE 350 companies.

Dame Debbie Crosbie, CEO of Nationwide Bank and Women in Finance Champion, says: "AI is not just a technology choice for financial services, it is a leadership choice.

"Used well, it can help make recruitment and progression fairer, widen access to opportunity, and shine a light on talent that might otherwise be overlooked."

Co-authors Nishma Gosrani, Partner at Bain & Company, and Feryal Erhun, Professor of Operations and Technology Management and the Academic Director of the Wo+Men's Leadership Centre at Cambridge Judge Business School, work to ensure AI-driven recruitment systems support female advancement.

The research examines how financial institutions can deploy the technology to create fairer hiring and promotion frameworks.

Automation risks by gender

The paper analyses automation exposure across gender lines in high-earning countries.

Male employment faces a 3.5% risk of automation, according to the research.

Female employment shows more than double that exposure at 9.6% risk of automation.

The paper identifies cultural, organisational and behavioural factors that determine who engages with AI tools in financial services workplaces.

Men show higher rates of informal gen AI adoption. Women demonstrate more hesitancy towards the technology according to the findings.

Feryal explains: "As AI and automation accelerate, there is a real risk that women will be disproportionately disadvantaged, but there is also a genuine strategic opportunity to reset long-standing structural inequalities. That is precisely why this research matters.

"The question is how to ensure that women are the architects and governors of AI in finance services. Our aim is that this work provides institutions with a practical blueprint for ensuring AI becomes a force that closes, rather than widens, the gender gap in financial services and provides actionable insights."

UK regulatory framework

The paper highlights the UK's combination of the Women in Finance Charter and AI regulatory framework as a potential model for other markets.

The research describes the nation's AI governance approach as principles-based and emerging.

The US and EU could follow the UK's approach according to the paper.

The combination of high female board representation and flexible AI regulation creates conditions for addressing gender imbalances in financial services.

Nishma says: "The pace of change in financial services is unlike anything we have seen.

"Agentic AI is no longer confined to back office automation; it is moving into the front office, becoming the first touchpoint with customers and reshaping the roles of advisers, underwriters and relationship managers.

"Yet only a small fraction of firms have truly embedded it into how they operate, and fewer still can evidence the value. Closing that gap demands rigour and governance, not just ambition. Get it right and AI becomes a source of trust. Get it wrong and it becomes a liability."

The paper suggests CEOs, Boards and Executive Committees will need to address how AI can be deployed effectively. Questions include protecting roles from automation risk, closing the engagement gap and ensuring female representation in technology decisions.