Solarisbank launches women’s network ‘Futura’ to tackle fintech gender gap

Solarisbank, Europe’s leading Banking-as-a-Service platform, today announced the official launch of Futura. Behind the brand is a company women’s network dedicated to closing the gender gap in the fintech industry. The initiative is part of Solarisbank’s holistic NPB (Nature, People, Business) framework, the company’s own take on ESG. Following Futura’s vision of powerful women shaping the future of fintech, the network aims to boost representation within Solarisbank to at least 30 percent women at all levels by 2024.

“At Solarisbank, we decided to take a deliberate stand to improve gender equity in our industry. We launched Futura to make fintech more inclusive for everyone — women, men, and non-binary people. It’s encouraging to see so much support for our initiative, and the market response to our first activities has shown the need for such a network. With Futura, we strive to make Solarisbank the most attractive fintech in Europe for women to work at,” says Alex Gessner, VP of Onboarding & Integration and initiator of Futura.

After Futura was founded at the beginning of the year, the network has been very active behind the scenes, launching several projects. Futura’s work focuses on organizing events — from discussion panels, to training events and empowerment days — where women considering a career in fintech can hear from, learn, and network with women already working in the field.

Naturally, the network also has an inward effect. One of the measures is to make the recruitment process at Solarisbank more inclusive by adapting the language and asking recruitment agencies to reach a minimum quota of female applicants. Furthermore, Futura organizes workshops to raise awareness of the issue among the leadership team, as well as training programs for women and a Futura allies group for men who want to support the network.

“Futura is also part of a broader vision, which is called NPB. The NPB framework represents Solarisbank’s view of how sustainability should be guiding our actions — how we treat nature, how we treat our employees, and how we do business. Futura is a key component in our approach. Eventually, diversity and inclusion benefit everyone. With Futura, we hope to prove this to the industry and create a blueprint for them to follow,” says Layla Qassim, Chief of Staff to the Group CEO.