Worldpay, the payments-processing company chaired by City veteran Sir Mike Rake, has appointed the first woman to its main board, weeks after floating on the stock market.
Deanna Oppenheimer, a non-executive director at Tesco, will join the Worldpay board in January.
In September both Worldpay and Hastings, the motor insurer, were criticised for floating on the stock market with all-male boards. Hastings, whose chief executive is Gary Hoffman, is yet to appoint a female main board director, but says it will do so within 12 months of its debut on the London stock market.
Oppenheimer chairs the Tesco remuneration committee and is a director of Tesco Bank, Axa Group, and NCR Corporation. She is also an adviser to Bain & Co.
Rake welcomed his new recruit, saying: “She is one of the leading women in international finance and her combination of banking, retail, innovation, brand and communication skills will be invaluable to Worldpay.”
Sources close to the company said that Oppenheimer has been set to join the group for a few weeks, but the announcement had been held up for technical reasons.
Lord (Mervyn) Davies, who oversaw the coalition government’s initiative to increase the participation of women on main boards, said in September that investors should “take into account” the all-male status of the boards of Hastings and Worldpay before deciding whether to back the flotations.
There was some good news for Hastings on Wednesday as its shares rose above the float price of 170p for the first time on the back of a 19% rise in profits.
