The Luxembourg Gender Finance Task Force

Around €3.5trn in European assets will change hands by 2030, and women stand to be the main beneficiaries - controlling up to 45% of the EU's retail financial assets by the start of the next decade. For wealth managers and for the EU's Savings and Investments Union, that shift changes the terms of the game.

Gender equality in the EU is advancing: the bloc's 2025 Index score has climbed to 63.4, and women's earnings have risen to 77% of men's, up from 69% a decade ago. Closing the remaining gap now depends on shifting attitudes about who earns and who cares.

Women now hold 19% of top leadership roles across major financial institutions - the highest level ever recorded. Yet at the current pace of change, full gender parity is still an estimated 22 years away. OMFIF's 2026 Gender Balance Index examines why progress remains uneven, and what targeted policy action can do to close the gap.

Women now represent roughly one third of senior leadership roles among organisations participating in Luxembourg’s Women in Finance (WiF) Charter, according to the 2025 WiF Charter Progress Report. The report highlights gradual progress across the sector, while noting that gender balance at the most senior levels remains a challenge.

Despite decades of progress, women remain significantly underrepresented in leadership positions across politics and business, and global gender inequalities persist. An article in the Financial Times highlights how slow progress has been in closing gaps in representation and pay, even as awareness and policy initiatives have expanded.

The number of young female entrepreneurs launching start-ups across Europe is rising, yet companies led by women continue to raise significantly less venture capital than those led by men, according to a study by Invest Europe and the European Investment Fund (EIF).