Closing the gender pay gap in the financial services industry

An action-oriented session with the Ministry for Women was hosted by the FSC’s Empower Women, focusing on addressing the gender pay gap within New Zealand’s financial services industry.

Speakers included:

• Minister for Women, Hon Nicola Grigg for an online address
• Chief Executive of Ministry for Women, Kellie Coombes
• KPMG NZ Chief People and Inclusion Officer, Evan Bateup
• Human Resources Business Partner at Partners Life, Bron Thompson

Event kindly hosted by KPMG New Zealand.

Why this focus?

According to the Ministry for Women, the 2025 reported gender pay gap within the financial services industry is 23%, compared to the latest 2025 New Zealand average of 5.2%.

To better understand this gender pay gap across financial services and to lead the required change, the FSC Board recently endorsed a proposal from the FSC’s Empower Women Working Group to encourage voluntary reporting of gender pay gap data from across the FSC membership.

Under this initiative, FSC members are encouraged to calculate their gender pay gap using the Ministry for Women toolkit, with the aim that the FSC will aggregate this data and establish an industry-wide benchmark that will drive transparency and accountability and allow us to track progress in reducing the gap across the FSC membership.

This event covered:

• The current state of the gender pay gap in Aotearoa and financial services.
• How to use the Ministry for Women’s Pay Gap Tool to assess and report your pay gap within your organisation.
• Real-world examples, lessons learned and impactful actions from FSC member organisations that have successfully implemented pay gap reporting tools and processes.
• Learning practical steps to measure and report your organisation’s gender pay gap.
• Hearing from peers who are leading the way in reporting on their gender pay gap and actions taken to try and reduce that gap.
  
• Being part of a collective movement to improve gender equality in financial services.

Following the event, the FSC will provide further details to members, including how to report your gender pay gap to the FSC, using the tool and raise awareness of the gender pay gap in New Zealand.

As acknowledged by the Minister for Women, Hon Nicola Grigg, in a letter of thanks to Empower Women following the event: "this is a significant step forward for a sector that has traditionally experienced one of the highest pay gaps."

Through the work of FSC Empower Women, "the sector now has a clear pathway towards greater transparency and accountability - key ingredients for meaningful change". The Minister acknowledged our "collaboration, energy and vision to make a tangible difference."

Watch the replay:

Photo gallery: