Seven in 10 chase the C-suite, yet nearly half say sponsorship never reaches them
71 percent of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) women working in Canadian finance say they aspire to reach the C-suite, against 58 percent of women in the sector overall.
Both figures appear in Dismantling the Performance Tax: Strategies to Advance BIPOC Women in Finance, a national study released by VersaFi in September 2026, with the comparison drawn from the organization's earlier Powering Progress Scorecard 2026.
VersaFi has given the name Performance Tax to what the report calls a "compounding, invisible surcharge" BIPOC women pay to be seen as equally capable, credible and ready for leadership as their colleagues.
The report finds the surcharge grows with rank: on every measure it tracks by seniority, agreement is higher among respondents above middle management than across the sample as a whole.
"BIPOC women in Canadian finance are being held to different standards than their peers," Tanya van Biesen, chief executive officer of VersaFi, said in the release accompanying the study.
Van Biesen said the gap runs through assessments of leadership and competence and through access to sponsorship, networks, and career-building opportunities, and called it systemic rather than a question of ambition.
VersaFi calls the Burden of Proof, 68 percent of respondents said BIPOC women are held to a different standard in leadership evaluations, rising to 82 percent among senior leaders.
60 percent said BIPOC women face more scrutiny of their leadership decisions, rising to 74 percent among senior leaders, and 48 percent said they face harsher penalties for mistakes, rising to 59 percent.
53 percent named biased performance reviews as a key barrier to senior leadership, and the same share named unconscious bias or stereotyping in promotions.
On the Recognition Gap, 61 percent said they have to work harder than others to gain the same level of recognition or advancement, and 47 percent said colleagues take credit for their work often or always, a figure that reaches 58 percent among senior leaders.
Half said they feel supported by their organization in advancing to or within senior leadership, rising to 61 percent among senior leaders.
The Access Deficit covers sponsorship and networks.
88 percent said sponsorship is crucial to reaching a leadership position, while 46 percent identified lack of sponsorship from senior leadership as a key barrier; 84 percent said mentorship is crucial, while 54 percent identified a lack of formal mentorship opportunities as a barrier.
58 percent reported limited opportunities for high-visibility roles, 53 percent limited access to strategic projects, and 38 percent limited access to senior leadership networks.
The fourth dimension, the Visibility Shortfall, records that 51 percent cite limited representation of BIPOC women in leadership as a key barrier to advancement and 52 percent cite a work culture that is not inclusive, rising to 61 percent among senior leaders.
"Suddenly, I wasn't the only one," said one unnamed respondent quoted in the report, describing a leadership circle for racialized women run by an outside organization.
She said the group's shared understanding made her feel seen in a way her own company had not.
VersaFi asks firms to take five steps:
- Replace vague feedback with success profiles modelled on the actual outputs of top performers at each level
- Standardize contribution credit on high-profile work, where credit can default to the most senior or most visible person
- Tie senior leader evaluations to the advancement of sponsored talent into stretch assignments and high-visibility roles
- Institutionalize shadowing by creating designated seats for BIPOC women at closed-door pitches and executive meetings
- Reassess leadership potential on impact and capability rather than conformity to a traditional executive type
VersaFi surveyed 101 BIPOC women in Canadian finance through Qualtrics and interviewed 21 more through Environics Research in 2025, with 61 participants in middle management or earlier and 61 above that level.
