CIBC plans to set formal targets this year for the number of women on its board of directors and in executive officer positions, the bank’s CEO said Tuesday.
“In business, people respond to targets,” Victor Dodig said during a roundtable hosted by the Ontario Securities Commission on the issue of gender diversity on corporate boards.
In a joint initiative with other securities regulators, the OSC released a review Monday of a new “comply and explain” policy that requires publicly traded companies to disclose certain statistics around the representation of women on their boards and in executive officer positions.
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Regulators in every province and territory except for Prince Edward Island, Alberta and British Columbia implemented rule amendments at the end of last year requiring issuers to provide targets for how many women should sit on their boards or in executive officer roles.
The rule changes also require companies to disclose their policies relating to how women are identified and nominated for such posts.
If an issuer chooses not to implement targets for female composition and other related policies, it must explain why it has chosen not to comply.
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More than half (51%) of the 722 companies included in the review disclosed that they do not have even one woman on their boards, while 40% reported no women in executive officer positions.
Only 7%—or 49 issuers—said they have a target in place for the number of women that should sit on their board. And only 11 companies reported setting a target for the number of executive officers, representing about two per cent.
The most commonly cited reason for not setting targets was that candidates are chosen based on merit, not gender.
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Dodig said roughly 30% of CIBC’s directors are women, while the rate of female representation in executive officer roles is in the “high 20s.”
“Our goal is to continue to move that upwards because we think it’s good for the company, it’s good for our culture, it’s good for business,” Dodig said. “It’s very straightforward for us.”