Discovery Series 2025: UAE financial sector sees 15.8% of board roles held by women

Dubai: Heriot-Watt University and Grant Thornton today published a detailed report on the representation of women in senior leadership roles across the UAE’s financial services sector. Entitled ‘Discovery Series 2025: Women transforming financial services’, the importance of this report lies in its role as an evidence-based benchmark for gender representation within one of the UAE’s most influential economic sectors. As the second edition of The Discovery Series, this report builds on the momentum of the 2024 report by deepening the analysis, expanding the scope of the data, and reinforcing the critical contributions women are making at board and senior leadership levels.

The report highlights the contributions of senior female leaders across the UAE’s banks, investment firms, insurance and fintech companies, including board directors, Chief Risk Officers, and Heads of Internal Audit. As the UAE continues to build a resilient, diversified economy and reduce its reliance on oil, the financial services sector plays a crucial role in driving non-oil Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and strengthening governance.

In 2024, the UAE’s economy grew by 4% to Dh1.77 trillion, with the non-oil sector accounting for more than three-quarters of the GDP.  Among key drivers of this growth is the financial industry, which contributed around 13.2% to the economy. Within the sector, risk and control functions, led by Chief Risk Officers (CRO) and Heads of Internal Audit (HIA), are essential to safeguarding its integrity and enabling sustainable growth. Women’s participation in these key areas not only enhances organisational resilience but also supports the national agenda for a balanced, transparent, and well-regulated financial system. The 2025 Discovery Series: Women transforming financial services report highlights both the representation of women in these pivotal roles and the opportunity to champion and accelerate women’s leadership across risk, audit, and control functions, thereby reinforcing the UAE’s long-term economic transformation. 

The report, led by Professor Dame Heather McGregor, Provost and Vice Principal of Heriot-Watt University Dubai, includes research analysing board and leadership data from the 2025 financial year across 73 publicly listed financial sector companies in the UAE. The report captures data on 539 board members across three main stock exchanges in the UAE: Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX), Dubai Financial Market (DFM), and Nasdaq Dubai.

Key findings from this report are as follows:

• As of 1 September 2025, a total of 539 board members were identified by name and gender.

• Of the 539 listed board positions in the financial services sector, 85 (15.8%) are taken by women. This is higher than the UAE-wide average of 14.8% across all sectors, according to the 2025 GCC

Board Gender Index, highlighting that the financial sector is slightly ahead in advancing women’s representation at the board level.

• Eight (11%) of the 73 companies have no woman on their board, indicating that while progress has been made across the sector, gender representation remains uneven.

• Out of 49 identified companies, only three (around 6%) have a female CRO, highlighting a gap in female representation in leadership roles in the risk function and the need for proactive measures and greater accountability.

• Of the 60 companies where the HIA has been named, six (10%) have a female HIA, underscoring the need to strengthen gender balance within control functions.

Commenting on the release of the 2025 Discovery Series: Women transforming financial services, Hisham Farouk, CEO of Grant Thornton UAE said, “The UAE’s story is one of intentional progress – building a world class, innovation led economy with finance at its core. From capital markets and Islamic finance to a fast maturing fintech ecosystem and robust digital infrastructure, the financial sector is powering diversification, attracting global investment and creating skilled jobs. Yet true leadership is measured not only by growth, but by the prosperity of its people.”

“The Discovery Series is a benchmark designed to help industry, regulators and boards track progress and actively close the leadership representation gap. We are thrilled to partner with Heriot-Watt niversity Dubai on this report, which highlights both the progress made and the work still ahead to ensure women have equal opportunity to lead,” he added.

Emma Smalls, UAE Head of Business Risk Private Bank at HSBC Middle East, said, “The Discovery Series 2025 highlights both the progress and the opportunities that lie ahead for gender-balanced leadership in the UAE’s financial services sector. While we celebrate the growing representation of women on boards and in senior roles, this report also showcases the need for continued focus on inclusive leadership across the ecosystem. By shining a light on organisations and individuals leading the way, we hope to inspire further action and accelerate the journey toward truly diverse and resilient governance.”

Professor Dame Heather McGregor, Provost and Vice Principal of Heriot-Watt University Dubai, said, “Our intention in publishing the 2025 Discovery Series: Women transforming financial services was to provide a clear, evidence-based picture of gender representation at senior levels in the UAE financial sector. In partnership with Grant Thornton UAE, we aim to shed light on how women are shaping governance, risk, and reform from within, and to identify the organisations setting the benchmark for inclusive leadership. As one of the most progressive sectors in the UAE, the financial industry has a significant responsibility to champion gender equity.”

“The findings aim to bring clarity, transparency and evidence-based visibility to a topic where strong sentiment exists, but accurate data is often lacking. The Chief Risk Officers and Heads of Internal Audit are an essential part of any financial organisation, and this study provides facts to inform action and change”, she added.

2025 Discovery Series: Women transforming financial services, can be accessed here. Through this series, Grant Thornton and Heriot-Watt University hope to examine gender representation at senior levels in the sector, capturing both quantitative data and qualitative narratives, and providing sector-specific insights into how women are shaping governance, risk and reform from within.