Gender diversity in the non-financial reporting of Italian banks

Corporate social responsibility reporting on environmental, social and governance (ESG) sustainability allows analysts and investors to better assess firms’ risk exposure to these factors and their long-term profitability. Gender diversity in the workplace is an important element of firms’ sustainability strategy and deserves to be properly addressed and communicated to the public. We analyse how and to what extent Italian banks disclose their stance on these issues in their non-financial reporting (NFR), as required by the current regulatory framework for larger public interest entities. The analysis of NFR finds that diversity and inclusion (D&I) is material for most institutions, albeit with some differences in the granularity of information and in the way in which the information is presented. The paper identifies some aspects that banks could use in each of the three main areas considered in the reports (materiality process; D&I management; publication of quantitative information on D&I) to enhance their activities related to D&I.