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Nationwide, Bain and Cambridge Judge Business School call for responsible AI to support women’s careers

The research found women make up 42% of the sector’s workforce but remain under-represented in senior leadership roles.

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Nationwide, Bain & Company and Cambridge Judge Business School have called for financial services leaders to take a responsible approach to artificial intelligence (AI) to support women’s careers. 

The research found women make up 42% of the sector’s workforce but remain under-represented in senior leadership roles.

The joint paper looked at how AI is changing recruitment, progression and leadership in financial services. 

It warned that AI could either reduce bias and unlock talent or reinforce existing inequalities, depending on how it is implemented and governed. 

The research highlighted the need for oversight, transparency and accountability when using AI.

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Debbie Crosbie, CEO of Nationwide Building Society and Women in Finance Champion, said: “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.”

Nishma Gosrani, partner at Bain & Company and co-author, said: “The pace of change in financial services is unlike anything we have seen. 

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“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.”

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Gosrani added: “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.”

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Feryal Erhun, co-author and professor of operations and technology management and academic director of the wo+men’s leadership centre at Cambridge Judge, said: “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.”

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