TORONTO, Jan. 21, 2020 /CNW/ - Scotiabank, a leading bank in the Americas, today announced that it has been included in the 2020 Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index (GEI), which recognizes companies committed to transparency in gender reporting and gender equality in the workforce. This is the third year in a row that the Bank has been included in the index.

The 2020 GEI comprises 325 companies representing 42 countries and regions across 50 industries including automotive, banking, consumer services, engineering and construction, and retail.

"We believe an inclusive workforce creates opportunities for every future," said Barb Mason, Group Head and Chief Human Resources Officer, Scotiabank. "We've long been a champion for the advancement of women and know how important it is to our customers and employees that we reflect the diverse communities across our global footprint. It's essential to building winning teams and to building a better Bank."

"We're proud to be recognized for our efforts supporting gender equality and the advancement of women in the workforce – we continue this work every day."

Using a standardized reporting framework, the GEI tracks the financial performance of public companies committed to supporting gender equality through policy development, representation, and transparency, and measures gender equality across five pillars: female leadership and talent pipeline, equal pay and gender pay parity, inclusive culture, sexual harassment policies, and pro-women brand.

Scotiabank's commitment to prioritize equality and the inclusion of women include:

• Building an inclusive workforce where 39 per cent of Vice Presidents and above in Canada, and 35 per cent of Vice Presidents and above globally, are women
• Signing onto the UN Women's Empowerment Principles (WEPs), which offer guidance to businesses on how to promote gender equality and women's empowerment in the workplace
• Launching The Scotiabank Women Initiative™, a comprehensive program that supports women-owned, women-led businesses in Canada through Access to Capital, Mentorship and Education – the program has committed to allocate $3 billion in funding over its first three years
• Committing to equal access to our financing solutions and to ensure our lending practices are free of bias
• Increasing the representation of women on Scotiabank's Board of Directors by 10 per cent since the Bank established a Board Diversity Policy in 2013 – 38 per cent of the directors are women
• Being the first Canadian Bank to publicly disclose the gender pay gap analysis for Canadian employees
• Introducing mandatory conscious inclusion training to all employees globally

About Scotiabank
Scotiabank is a leading bank in the Americas. We are here for every future. We help our customers, their families and their communities achieve success through a broad range of advice, products and services, including personal and commercial banking, wealth management and private banking, corporate and investment banking, and capital markets. With a team of more than 100,000 employees and assets of over $1 trillion (as at October 31, 2019), Scotiabank trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: BNS) and New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: BNS). For more information, please visit http://www.scotiabank.com and follow us on Twitter @ScotiabankViews.

SOURCE Scotiabank