The head of Swiss-based Hinudjan Bank has come out swinging against what she views as a toxic culture for women in finance. She unleashed on what she views as the worst segment of finance.
Shanu Hinduja belongs to the third generation of the powerful Indian entrepreneur family. The daughter of patriarch Srichand Hinduja, the 55-year-old is one of the candidates to take over the financial conglomerate, which earns $50 billion in revenue annually.
The chair of Genevan Hinduja Bank, she said finance faces «a long road ahead to fully transform the gender bias that permeates the industry,» in an interview with the «Times» (behind paywall). «As the chair of a bank, I all too often witness the toxic culture for women in the banking sector. We are underrepresented at all levels of the global financial system.»
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Hinduja has been openly critical of gender diversity in India before, but not spoken out about women in finance in the west frequently. She faults venture capital investors – «deeply patriarchal» and «off-limits» for women – for the lack of females in finance.
«It remains widely accepted among investors that women – especially those of childbearing age – aren’t going to give their business ideas their full efforts and attention,» Hinduja said. Her family is among the wealthiest Swiss banker clans. Long dominated by men, Swiss banking is struggling to attract more women to banking – and hold onto them, as finews.com reported.
