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Swiss banks have been slow to recognize the advantages of diversity in teams and less-than-courageous in making changes, economist Sita Mazumder tells finews.com in an interview.

Women are rare in top management – especially in the Swiss banking industry, where they make for just 11 percent of top ranks, according to data compiled by finews.com.

Often, women in management roles at Swiss financial firms aren't responsible for revenue-generating businesses, but rather in «engine room» operational roles like legal, compliance, or risk, as finews.com  reported recently.

finews.com asked Sita Mazumder, an entrepreneur and professor for business and IT at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts about the data. Mazumder is also a director at regional bank Clientis, and previously sat on the board of Coutts International until it was bought by Union Bancaire Privée, or UBP, in 2015.

Sita Mazumder, there were hardly any women in Swiss banking management roles ten years ago. We've seen a slight improvement since then. Why? 

A few factors have supported this development: for one, there's a bit more awareness around the fact that Switzerland is underrepresented in an international comparison. That prompted countless action plans by business and government. But also the changes of new working models, digitization, and a younger generation entering the workforce have helped.

It's striking that relatively few women are in top management roles with responsibility for revenue. Why? 

There isn't one distinct reason. One factor that's always mentioned is that those jobs are difficult to reconcile with a family life, because they aren't offered as part-time roles very often,, or as a reduction to an 80 percent job at the most.

«Male vs female: one is not better than the other»

Another factor that is mentioned is that women are often missing operational experience in their CVs. But women also seem to view these top jobs as unattractive for different reasons – including the corporate culture that is attached to them.

Various studies show that women make for better risk managers due to an inherent aversion to risks. Is that true?