Setback for CBI chief as top female exec weighs in on rape allegations

A leading female City executive is the latest to voice fears that harassment and rape allegations swirling around the CBI could damage the progress of women in business.

The comments by Anna Manz, chief financial officer at the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG), came as the new boss of the CBI began her fight for its survival.

Claims of rape and sexual harassment have prompted dozens of prominent businesses to quit or pause their engagement with the lobby group – and the Government to stop talking to it.

The LSEG left the CBI a few months ago, prior to allegations emerging. But Manz said: ‘They really concern me. It’s not what I would want to see in any workplace and I’m glad that they’re being thoroughly investigated.’

Manz, who works with other female finance chiefs to help women grow careers in the sector, said: ‘There is positive progress around gender equality across financial services, which is exciting. It’s in that context that this is concerning.’

Earlier, the CBI’s new director general Rain Newton-Smith told the Financial Times that a ‘root and branch’ review being conducted might result in its name being changed. 

Eyebrows have been raised at the appointment of Newton-Smith, who spent nearly nine years as CBI chief economist before recently leaving for Barclays.

In a Sky News interview, she said she had to ‘lean into the fact that I was here when some of these allegations took place’.

GSK chief executive Emma Walmsley this week said the allegations were ‘pretty repulsive’. And Helena Morrissey, a City financier, said she was worried ‘horrible’ claims ‘might put women off joining industry’.