ABGSC Women in Finance Foundation supports “Cross Border Dialogue” event at Norwegian Embassy in London

Above, clockwise from left: Amanda Blanc (Group CEO Aviva, HM Treasury’s “Women in Finance Champion”), Michael Marks (Head of Investment Stewardship & Responsible Investment Integration, Legal & General Investment Management) and Alexandra Morris (Investment Director Skagen Funds, Chair Women in Finance Charter Norway) during a discussion moderated by Leyla Boulton (Senior Editor, Financial Times, Development Editor, FT Live, Liaison with Financial Literacy and Inclusion Campaign ); Hedwige Nuyens (CEO International Banking Federation and chair European Women on Boards ) and Adele Norman Pran (Chair, ABG Sundal Collier Women in Finance Foundation) in discussion; Turid Solvang (CEO and Founder FutureBoards) presents.

On 3 November the ABG Sundal Collier Women in Finance Foundation supported a “Cross Border Dialogue” event, which took place at the Norwegian Ambassador’s residence in London. The event focused on the theme of improving the gender balance in decision making positions in the corporate world; it featured experts and practitioners who exchanged knowledge, shared their experiences and discussed ideas about how to remove barriers for women on corporate boards and in top management teams.
The event was produced by FutureBoards, a Norwegian organisation devoted to encouraging better corporate governance. So far, FutureBoards has hosted these “Cross-Border Dialogues” in collaboration with Norwegian embassies and consulates in Brussels, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Bangkok, Yangon, Abu Dhabi, Mumbai and Shanghi, in addition to London. The London initiative has received support from the Foundation since 2019, and has led to the development of Norway’s Kvinner i Finans Charter (“Women in Finance Charter”), inspired by the UK initiative of the same name.
The headline for this year’s meeting in London was “Women in Finance”. Topics on the agenda included: a comparative look at the state of play in the financial sector in the UK vs. Norway; the sharing of company practices, stories, lessons and learnings; and, a discussion about what needs to be done going forward. Reflections from the participants were centred around what companies, management and board rooms can and should do to ensure a better gender balance at the top of the career ladder.
During the event, the Foundation’s chair, Adele Norman Pran, participated in a panel discussion called “Company practice and stories, lessons and learnings”.
“Thank you to FutureBoards for the invitation and for initiating a great event”, stated Pran. “By sharing best practices across borders, we can help promote change in the Norwegian financial sector. One such example in recent years has been the ‘Kvinner i Finans Charter’ initiative, which was introduced in Norway, having been inspired by the example of the British ‘Woman in Finance Charter’, via a Cross Border Dialogue event. When the Charter was introduced in Norway, it received an enthusiastic response from the financial sector. The ABGSC Women in Finance Foundation is therefore proud to support the Cross Border dialogue event once again, and we hope that this year’s discussions yielded fresh inspiration”.
“The objective of the FutureBoards Cross Border Dialogues is to share and gather knowledge and experience about successful initiatives and measures to ensure more gender-balanced representation at the top rungs of the corporate ladder”, explained FutureBoards CEO Turid Solvang. “A common denominator for all the discussions is an exponentially growing perception that the issue is not going to be fixed by itself, combined with an eagerness to do ‘something’”, she said. “Already, we have seen that these dialogues have yielded tangible results, such as the creation of the ‘Kvinner i Finance Charter’ in Norway, and we are grateful to the ABG Sundal Collier Women in Finance Foundation for their continued support”.
You can read more about the event here.

About FutureBoards
FutureBoards is an independent global network of corporate governance experts and practitioners committed to building better boards that support sustainable value creation. Based in Norway and anchored in Nordic corporate governance, FutureBoards contributes to the collection and sharing of research and ideas from the perspectives of different stakeholders, investors, boards of directors, management, academics, politicians and regulators. Turid E. Solvang is the CEO and founder.
Lean more about FutureBoards here.