Short to medium term lender Fiduciam has just been accepted by HM Treasury as a Women in Finance Charter signatory.

Fiduciam currently has 21 male and 20 female employees.

Women currently comprise 16% of Fiduciam’s senior management team, but believes that women will constitute at least a third of its management team within 18 months.

The lender’s entire Spanish team (two underwriters, one BDM and three case managers) is female.

Marieke Eskens (pictured), head of case management at Fiduciam, said: “Being part of such a progressive lender it made sense to me for Fiduciam to sign up to the Women in Finance Charter as the Charter’s values and commitments were already such a fundamental part of how we operated. All of our colleagues were very supportive when we introduced the idea of signing up to the Charter as all welcomed the idea to publicly affirm how seriously Fiduciam takes gender equality.

“The Charter really does put a mark in the sand as to where a firm stands on this subject and more organisations should not be afraid of being held publicly liable for their gender equality goals.”

Johan Groothaert, CEO of Fiduciam, added: “We have signed the Women in Finance Charter in order to be held publicly accountable for our equality and gender diversity practices. We believe that diversity and inclusiveness in our workplace are conducive to a successful and dynamic business environment. As a growing international business with employees from 15 different countries speaking 20 different languages, diversity and gender equality are integral parts of our culture.

“We also believe that the Women in Finance Charter is a fundamentally important initiative to broaden the diversity of financial services companies across the UK. The more companies sign up to initiatives such as these, the more it influences other firms to do the same thing, providing better career opportunities for women but also a better outcome for society as a whole.”