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Following a 27-year long career, Alison Rose hit the headlines this week following her appointment as CEO of The Royal Bank of Scotland, making her the first woman CEO of a major British bank. Rose is set to take over the position from current CEO Ross McEwan in November this year.  

Despite signifying progress, according to a by the 30 percent club, Rose remains in a minority, with only 3.7% of female CEOs amongst the FTSE 350. In addition, our preliminary research for the upcoming Market Tracker AGM Trend report (to be published later this year), suggests that although roughly a third of the FTSE 350 have over 33% of the board made up of women, a staggering 82% of the FTSE 350 still have no female executives and only 2.2% have more than one female in an executive role on the board.

, Steering Committee Member of the 30 Percent Club and founder of talent and acquisition firm More Difference, said:

‘Alison Rose’s appointment is an important milestone for the progression of women executives in the UK. She becomes the 7^th female CEO in the FTSE100 but also the first female CEO of the big four UK banks. Since 2011 significant progress has been made on the representation of women on Boards but despite wide ranging efforts and initiatives the numbers of executive women at the top of organisations remains woefully low. Gender parity has to be achieved at all levels of organisations; this can only happen when women have the same access to opportunity as men.’