Businesses have "long way to go to truly embed real change" when it comes to diversity, equality and inclusion, a report has claimed, but as FTAdviser's Diversity in Finance Awards 2022 shortlist proves, great strides have been made by some.
The McKenzie-Delis Review, in partnership with KPMG and carried out by pollster Ipsos, found many UK companies have focused on workforce diversity and inclusion, but areas such as sexual orientation, race and disability are lacking.
Leila McKenzie-Delis, founder of the McKenzie-Delis Foundation, said: "Let us be in no doubt - the UK’s biggest companies have a responsibility to lead by example and we need to see more organisations blazing a trail to move the dial and lead the way."
But there are companies - large and small - who are driving change in DE&I across the financial services world.
This has been made clear by the quantity and quality of the submissions for the FTAdviser Diversity In Finance Awards 2022.
The FT Adviser Diversity in Finance Awards 2022 showcase those companies whose diversity and inclusion strategies have been exceptional, whether in recruitment, product development, improving flexibility for their workforce and listening to the real experiences of their employees.
We are pleased to announce that after lengthy deliberation among our experienced and expert judges, the shortlists are now in.
Who's on the shortlist?
The shortlists (written in alphabetical order) for the FTAdviser Diversity In Finance Awards 2022 are:
Company awards
• Championing Disability Inclusion: Mazars, UBS and Zurich.
• Championing Gender Diversity: Legal & General Investment Management, Natwest and Schroders.
• Championing LGBTQ+ Inclusion: CitiBank, Fidelity International, Legal & General Investment Management and Pimco.
• Championing Race Equality: Fidelity International, Morningstar and Zurich.
• Championing Social Mobility: EQ Investors, HSBC Asset Management, Man Group and One Family.
• Championing Women’s Equality: GAIN, Pollen Street Capital and SVB UK.
• Diversity & Inclusion Initiative of the Year: Natixis; NextGen Planners, Now: Pensions and Openwork.
• Diversity Marketing & Recruitment Initiative of the Year: Bank of England, Exante and Fidelity.
• Employer of the Year (Small Firm and Large Firm sub-categories): AIG, Celtic Financial Planning, PensionBee, Phoenix and Schroders.
• Trailblazing Company of the Year: First Wealth, PensionBee, Redington, Sesame Bankhall Group and Zurich.
• Product of the Year: To be unveiled at the awards ceremony in June.
• Provider of the year: To be unveiled at the awards ceremony in June.
Individual awards
- Diversity Champion of the Year (Small Company): Grace Le, fund manager at Artemis; Lindsey McMurray, managing partner at Pollen Street Capital; and Mohammed Ahmed, non-executive director at the British Business Bank.
- Diversity Champion of the Year (Large Company): Fabio Peyer, director of indexes marketing at Morningstar; Imran Khan, business development manager at Phoenix Group; Laura Rodgers, head of performance insights centre of excellence for NatWest; and Sam Gould, head of PR and campaigns at Now: Pensions.
The judges
Our judges span a wealth of experience in diversity, equality and inclusion initiatives across UK businesses.
They are: Netanya Clixby, managing associate for law firm Sidley Austin and member of the Law Society's LGBT+ lawyers division committee; Samuel Clague, founder of the Stephen James Partnership; Tanya Srikandan, director of finance and operations for Stonewall; Sharif Omar, director of finance and accounting for Randstad; Emma Ann Hughes, director of communications for the Personal Finance Society and the Chartered Insurance Institute; Yasir Mirza, global head of diversity and inclusion for the FT Group; and Simoney Kyriakou, senior editor of FTAdviser.
