Lloyds Pledges More Women in Senior Roles by 2020

Lloyds is expected to announce it will boost the number women in the bank's top managerial positions to 40% by 2020.

Just under three in ten (28%) of the lender's current 5,000 strong senior workforce is currently made up of women, but Lloyds said it plans a fundamental review of its recruitment policies in order to ensure lasting change.

The move is expected to be unveiled in a speech by António Horta-Osório, the chief executive of Lloyds, on February 4.

Horta-Osório will also announce the bank's Helping Britain Prosper Plan, which will provide a set of commitments from Lloyds that will be independently measured and monitored

"The reputational impact of the financial crisis upon the banking industry's stature has been immense," Horta-Osório will say.

"Rebuilding a sound reputation founded on the highest standards of responsible behaviour is key to the industry's long term success."

The Business Secretary Vince Cable has called on Britain's biggest companies to increase the number of women on their boards.

Cable urged the leaders of the country's FTSE350 businesses to boost diversity and appoint an extra female director in 2014.

"In the past few years we've made great progress in improving boardroom diversity and the momentum has turned," Cable said.

He added: "We're now on the home stretch and countries across the world are looking at the voluntary approach we've taken. We need to show them that we can get over the finish line."

According to Professional Boards Forums' BoardWatch, women now make up 20.4% of FTSE 100 directors, up from 19% as of October 2013 and 12.5% in February 2011.

But the research also revealed that women only make up 15.1% on FTSE 250 boards.

The government's goal is to get a quarter of all directorships in FTSE 100 companies to be held by women.