Information on data on the gender divide in controlled functions - February 2026

Please provide the number of men and women in SMF1, SMF3, SMF27, SMF9, SMF16 and SMF17 positions at the end of 2025.

I would also like to know about the gender divide in the same controlled functions in relation to firms with permission to trade as a general insurance broker – by this I mean a company selling non-investment insurance contracts.

Your full request is available in Annex A below.

Firstly, we would note that we do not systematically record the gender of individuals. We hold information on the salutations used by individuals and are responding to your questions on this basis. Please note, however, that: 

1. Individuals may use a salutation that is different to their gender self-identification. 
2. In some instances, we have provided a NULL response where no identification was provided.
3. Where an individual holds more than one role of the same designation (e.g. SMF3 Executive Director at multiple firms) we have only counted that individual once. 

The information we hold can be seen in the tables below. 

Please note the figures were extracted on 27 January 2026 and are reflective of the position as of 31 December 2025.   

Please note that the data does not include individuals who had their SMF position withdrawn or terminated on or before 31 December 2025. Some individuals will have had their positions withdrawn after that date, and these will still be included in the data. 

Please also note we have taken your request to refer to firms within the following supervision portfolios: 

• “Personal & Commercial Lines Insurance Intermediaries”; or  
• “Lloyd’s and London Market Intermediaries and Managing Agents” 

Finally, please note that the FCA began the rollout of application forms that no longer request salutation information as of Q2 2024, therefore the number of individuals without this data will increase from that time.

Table 1 – all FCA regulated firms:

Number of SMF1, SMF16, SMF9, SMF3, SMF17 and SMF27 holders at the end of 2025:

Table 2 – firms with permission to trade as general insurance brokers:

Number of SMF1, SMF16, SMF9, SMF3, SMF17 and SMF27 holders at the end of 2025: