The coronavirus crisis was supposed to be the great leveller. A chance for financial firms to ditch the culture of long hours and presenteeism that has shut working mothers out of senior roles and equal pay for decades.

It hasn’t worked out that way. Financial News spoke to five mothers, who work in banking in the City, that expressed fears the pandemic will derail their careers. The need to balance work with childcare, they say, has hit women in the City disproportionately hard.