ClearBank and Code First Girls partner to close fintech gender gap

ClearBank is helping to actively recruit more female coders by partnering with Code First Girls.

The cloud-based banking platform joins 30 other fintechs and financial services groups, including Zopa,Starling Bank, Lloyds Banking Group and NatWest, in working with Code First Girls to diversify the tech workforce.

Code First Girls, which is the largest provider of free coding courses for women in the UK, has more than 100 partners in the UK and globally and the financial service sector is the largest and fastest growing proportion of companies.

“It’s fantastic to partner with ClearBank to support more women into the fintech industry and to help them recruit female coders into their team,” Code First Girls CEO Anna Brailsford said.

“There is currently a worrying gender gap, with many women facing significant barriers to entering STEM careers, starting at school and continuing throughout their lives.

“Varied and diverse experiences and skills will only make both the tech and finance industries stronger, bringing huge opportunities to businesses as well as the individuals themselves.”

There are significant gender gaps in both tech and finance, but in 2022 Code First Girls provided nearly 45,000 opportunities for women to learn to code.

It has taught five times as many women to code as the entire UK university undergraduate system, and is working towards getting more women into tech-related jobs through its extensive network of partnerships. 

“As a business focused on driving transformation in the financial services industry, diversity in its many forms is vital to us and ClearBank is committed to championing it,” ClearBank chief technology officer Tom Harris said.

“We’re thrilled to be partnering with Code First Girls on this initiative, helping to get more women and non-binary people into technology roles at ClearBank.”