Women executives rise higher at small banks

Are small banks more female friendly? A recent survey seems to indicate so.

Women working in smaller financial institutions are reaching more high-level positions (comprising 29 percent of executive management) than their female colleagues working in larger banking institutions (comprising

Even the higher proportion on smaller financial institutions is not representative of the industry, as 63 percent of the 7.6 million people employed in the finance, insurance or real estate industries are women, according to Financial Women International, Inc, that released the results of a survey of 100 each of the nation's smaller and largest financial institutions late this summer.

Citing data from the National Foundation of Women Business Owners showing that women-owned firms are growing at six times the national average, Carole Elliott, chair of the FWI Foundation says, "I believe the skills and qualities of the women that make these firms grow are the same as the ones that make women successful bankers and bank CEOs.

"While the higher number of women in executive management in small banks is encouraging, I still find it hard to reconcile with the percentage of women working in the industry," Elliott explains. "Clearly, women have more strides to make in banking before breaking the ceiling."

Financial Women International, a group dedicated to helping women achieve success in the financial services industry, was founded in 1921 (a year after women won the right to vote) by a group of New York City women bankers.