VIRGIN MONEY CEO: 'Women don't bang the table and say reward me' and it stops them from being promoted

Women do not speak up enough about their achievements and it prevents them from getting more pay and top roles at their companies, according to the CEO of Virgin Money.

"Financial services suffers from perception and the reality that there is an old boys' network and yes - those cliques are hard to break into," Jayne Anne-Gadhia, CEO of Virgin Money, said at the FT Women at the Top event in London last week.

"However, those people argue for their remuneration and broadly - while this is a generalisation but actually comes through in the data - women don't bang on the table and say 'reward me,'" Anne-Gadhia said.

"Women usually hope that their hard work will be recognised without asking for it while men [are more likely to be assertive in asking for a pay rise or promotion]. This stops women rising in financial services."

Anne-Gadhia was one of a number of high-powered women to attend the event which focused on how to get more women into the workforce, how to solve the gender pay gap, and what other ways companies and governments can help promote greater diversity in the supply chain.

Fellow high-powered female banker, Shriti Vadera, chairman at Santander UK, said subconscious bias in job ads prevents women getting into financial services.

Meanwhile Alison Brittain from Whitbread, one of only seven female CEOs at a FTSE 100 company in Britain, outlined how women can make the transition from managing director to CEO in seven different ways.

Elsewhere, Heather McGregor, managing director at business consultancy Taylor Bennett and the FT's Mrs Moneypenny columnist, revealed some top tips to get a raise.