FTAdviser's Diversity in Finance Award 2021 shortlists are here.
This year – the third year FTAdviser has run the DIFAs – saw a record number of entries across all the categories, both individual and corporate.
The DIFA 2021 awards showcase the best work done across the past 12 months, by individuals and companies, to embed diversity, equality and inclusion into a firm's culture, to and improve policies, processes and products for customers and colleagues alike.
The quality of entries has been exceptional, highlighting the breadth of creativity and determination in UK financial services to improving DE&I, despite the restrictions of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The excellence of the submissions has also made the judging process more difficult than ever, as the panel deliberated over who has made the most difference to UK financial services over the past year.
While you'll have to wait til our prestigious awards event in September this year to find out who has won and who has been highly commended in each category, the panel of judges believe every submission was worthy of merit.
The shortlisted candidates can be seen in the table below, apart from categories where the winner is selected by the judges.
The judges were: Liz Field, chief executive of Pimfa; Bell Ribeiro-Addy, MP for Streatham; Adam Thorpe, global leader of HR services at Randstad; Junior Imode, principal cloud engineer at the Financial Conduct Authority and a winner in FTAdvisers' DIFA 2020; Victoria Green, director of finance and operations for Stonewall; Emma Ann Hughes, communications director for the Personal Finance Society and the Chartered Insurance Institute; and Simoney Kyriakou, senior editor for FTAdviser.
FTAdviser is pleased to have past winner MetLife as our diversity partner and the CII as our supporting partner for the Diversity In Finance Awards 2021.
INDIVIDUAL (Separate awards will be given for candidates from large firms and small firms) | The Shortlist |
| Diversity Champion of the Year | Honey Ajuwon (NatWest); Sandy Downs (Teamspirit); Samantha Gould (Now Pensions); Imran Khan (Phoenix Group); Elena Koycheva (BlueBay Asset Management); Dennis Owusu-Sem (BMO GAM); Bhavini Shah (City Hive) |
COMPANY (Separate awards will be given for both large and small firms where applicable) | |
| Championing Disability Inclusion Award | Openwork; Santander; UBS |
| Championing Gender Diversity Award | FutureBricks; Lewis Brownlee; NatWest; Sesame Bankhall Group; Teamspirit; Wesleyan |
| Championing LGBT Inclusion Award | Legal & General; Mazars; UBS |
| Championing Race Equality Award | Lloyds Banking Group; Man Group; NatWest; Zurich |
| Championing Women's Equality Award | Exante; Financial Services Compensation Scheme; Man Group; Phoebus Software; Return Hub |
| Championing Social Mobility Award | Brooks Macdonald; Ruth Whitehead Associates; Wesleyan |
| COMPANY (Large and Small): | |
| Employer of the Year | Dynamic Planner; Fidelity; PensionBee; Schroders |
| Trailblazing Company of the Year | Financial Services Compensation Scheme; Lloyds Banking Group; Pension Bee; Return Hub |
| Diversity and Inclusion Initiative of the Year | AJ Bell; City Hive; Diversity Project; Now Pensions; Quilter Cheviot; Unicredit |
| Diversity Marketing & Recruitment Campaign of the Year | To be revealed |
| Provider of the Year | To be revealed |
simoney.kyriakou@ft.com
