The Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the social organization committed to promoting gender equality in the UAE’s boardrooms, Aurora50, in order to increase female representation in the companies.
The collaboration will advance female representation on public and private sector boards in accordance with international best practices through information sharing and the creation of a deep pool of female talents.
Abdulhamid M. Saeed Alahmadi Governor – CBUAE
“The UAE has made remarkable progress in the past decade to increase the participation of women in the public and private sectors, and advancing gender equality is part of the UAE’s 2021 National Agenda. As a regulatory authority for licensed financial institutions in the UAE, we are committed to supporting the national agenda through engaging with the nomination committees of the Boards of financial institutions to ensure a fair representation of women on their Boards, as required by the CBUAE Corporate Governance regulation.”
The CBUAE and Aurora50 alliance seeks to improve and accelerate gender diversity in boardrooms while also increasing female representation. It offers a platform for knowledge sharing through conferences, meetings, seminars and workshops, and supports development of skills.
Sheikha Shamma Al Nahyan, Co-founder of Aurora50 said, “The work that we do at Aurora50 and our Pathway20 initiative aims to develop resilient and high-performing boards based on the foundations of competence, diversity, and inclusion. The partnership with the CBUAE reinforces the link between the representation of women on boards and national economic development. This is a positive step in the right direction, and we hope it encourages other organizations to accelerate their efforts towards more female representation at the board level.”
Aurora50 has created an ecosystem of partnerships with leading enterprises, such as Emirates Securities and Commodities Authority (ESCA), ADNOC, Mubadala Investment Company, First Abu Dhabi Bank, Abu Dhabi Ports, Emirates Global Aluminum (EGA), Sandooq Al Watan, Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX), Dubai Financial Market (DFM), Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), Dubai Future Foundation, Egon Zehnder, Fidelio, Hawkamah, INSEAD, Nasdaq Dubai and LinkedIn.
