Official launch scheduled for March 2011
Following the lead of the professional women's networks of BNP Paribas (Association BNP Paribas MixCity) and Société Générale (Féminin by Société Générale), the women of the banking, financial and insurance sectors of France have decided to unite forces to create Financi'Elles. The network will be officially launched on March 24, 2011. These three aforementioned sectors currently include close to 120,000 executive women in their ranks in France, though only 1,500 of these women are a part of a professional network at present.
Financi'Elles will bring together the women's networks, both formal and informal, of eight different companies, namely AXA, Barclays, BPCE, BNP Paribas, Caisse des Dépôts, Crédit Agricole CIB, HSBC and Société Générale, all of whom have supported the project since June 2010.
50 women volunteers, along with a group of experts, researchers and students at the business school Audencia, are currently working together to make this professional network a success. It will begin as a form of “pilot” organization, including women from these 8 companies, but the organizers hope that it will soon expand to include women from other companies as the project develops.
The aim of Financi'Elles is to bring together the women and the professional networks of the banking, financial and insurance sectors in order to cultivate a culture of inter-company networking, open exchange of best practices, and diversity.