Women make up only about one in seven of senior management roles at financial services firms, new research has suggested.

Employment firm Fox & Partners said its study found there were 7,552 women out of 50,639 senior management jobs in the sector.

Progress has been made in hiring more women to non-executive roles in financial services firms but there is “significant” work to do in appointing women to better-paid, senior executive positions, said the report.

An official review recently achieved its target of 33 per cent of FTSE350 board positions being held by women, which suggests that financial services firms are lagging behind other sectors, said the report.

Catriona Watt, a partner at Fox & Partners, said: “Women are still under-represented in the boardroom and the rate of progress needs to accelerate if firms really want to see real change.

“There is no quick fix but firms need to ensure they have as part of their planning a strategy which seeks to break down barriers which have typically prevented women from progressing to the top.”