Banks need flexibility to draw female talent in post-Covid era

Bloomberg

Flexibility is vital to attract talented female employees as many have altered their lifestyles and requirements following the Covid-19 pandemic, according to executives in the financial services industry.
Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul, chairperson at Kasikornbank Pcl, said employers must pay more attention the new needs and adapt quickly to recruit well and sustain growth. Meanwhile Narisa Chauvidul-Aw, chief executive officer and founder of mobile-payments startup KogoPay, emphasised the need for both organisations and staff to be more flexible.
“We need to create a new environment with the understanding and definitely with more communication,” Kobkarn said at the Bloomberg Business Summit in Bangkok. While workforce changes have always occurred, they are happening at a faster pace now as women put more emphasis on balancing their time even as they take on more responsibilities, she said.
Kobkarn has reason to take an interest in corporate social responsibility. She’s the only female chairperson at a Thai commercial bank. In fact Kasikornbank’s vice chair, Sujitpan Lamsam, is also a woman, as is Chief Executive Officer Kattiya Indaravijaya. The bank is expanding its retail-customer base via digital channels, which will help in overseas markets, Kobkarn said in an interview.
In Thailand, about two-thirds of staff at commercial banks are women, with many facing career challenges at best or unemployment at worst as the fallout from Covid continues and technology brings changes to the financial services sector. The country’s five biggest banks have an average full-time staff size of more than 22,000.
Women want “more flexibility, flexible hours,” Narisa said, adding that she sees the value of different types of support — including regulatory — more than ever after starting fintech firm KogoPay as a payments option for domestic and international transactions.
One area of progress came at the start of this year, when Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission expanded its disclosure requirements on environmental, social and governance for listed companies, including information on ESG practices, board-diversity policies and gender information on directors, executives and employees.
“Promoting women’s leadership roles is one of the objectives of our implementation plan to increase women’s roles in the Thai capital market in line with the SEC Sustainability Strategy,” SEC Secretary-General Ruenvadee Suwanmongkol said at the time. Information disclosure is vital “as it can reflect transparency and accountability,” she said.