The City of London Corporation has today published research into socio-economic background in Financial Services and announced a Social Mobility Taskforce
Unequal access to careers in financial services has long been highlighted as a barrier to recruiting the high-quality talent the sector needs. Overcoming these barriers to enable the hiring, progression and retention of talent from all backgrounds is key to our work.
We welcome the findings of a new report from City of London Corporation and Bridge Group, ‘Who gets ahead and how? Socio-economic background and career progression in financial services.’ The report which takes a deep dive of seven financial services firms, has found diversity by socio-economic background continues to be an issue in the sector.
The report coincides with the launch of new independent taskforce, commissioned by HM Treasury and BEIS and run by City of London Corporation, to help improve socio-economic diversity at senior levels in financial services.
Commenting on the news Claire Tunley, CEO of the Financial Services Skills Commission, said:
“Addressing social mobility barriers is an essential part of widening the talent and skills available to the financial services industry to support growth and competitiveness. This must not only look at who the industry hires into entry level jobs, but how we support progression of existing staff to make sure we are maximising the potential of the talent we already have.”
We believe that providing opportunities for career progression, in addition to concerted efforts to improve retention, are as critical to improving diversity as recruitment. Addressing socio-economic diversity at senior levels aligns with our objectives to improve organisational culture, diversity and inclusion.
We are leading work in the sector to increase workforce diversity through clear data reporting across a range of characteristics, sharing best practice solutions and improving working culture and inclusion. Our work focusses on inclusion as well as diversity, tackling issues such as intersectionality and inclusive working cultures are as important as ambitions to create diverse workforces.
The Financial Services Skills Commission looks forward to working alongside this taskforce to boost socio-economic diversity in UK financial services.
