The promise of fintech was to democratise access to financial services and instruments, particularly for underserved communities, but this can only be achieved through diversity of thought. The first step towards realising this promise and potential is creating an industry that is inclusive at heart, and engages diversity through not only representation but empowerment. To do this we need to understand the current landscape, to have visibility of the diversity within Fintech and Challenger Bank organisations.
Reporting diversity numbers at senior levels has been crucial in our ability to monitor, track and measure progress made in engaging underrepresented groups for some time now. The FTSE has benefited from this insight through these efforts and our report is the first of its kind for the F&C sector. CandidateX hopes to create similar impact for awareness of diversity at senior, decision making levels and through data, aid organisations in establishing a basis of on-going improvements and measures for an inclusive culture.
Our social consciousness about equality, diversity and community has never been more acute. Interested parties and stakeholders include existing and potential clients, investors, current and future employees, and the communities these organisations look to serve. Embracing and demonstrating inclusion, though is not a legislative requirement, is now almost certainly an expectation from all parties.
This report is intended to help create a baseline for the F&C sector through a diversity in numbers perspective. Undoubtedly there is some interesting insight to be derived, but not strictly surprising in results. Predictably we discovered numbers for BAME and Female representation across senior levels and at the CEO position predictably to be in the minority. Figures taken from .Gov around the gender pay gap unsurprisingly highlights the continued work needed to provide balance in these positions and initiatives. By making data available and accessible to an audience we bring other organisations and sectors into view with the FTSE. Given equality is a collective responsibility, organisations of all sizes and types should be investing to create and maintain an inclusive culture which supports equality.
Numbers is the obvious measurement in monitoring progress. However, used in isolation, there is little context or real understanding as to where organisations are on their specific diversity and inclusion journey. For me discovering 6 BAME and 2 Female CEOs from our 37 organisations was not surprising. However, seeing 26 from the 37 organisations without a diversity statement and only 11 from 37 with accessibility considerations was disappointing (see Appendix). We were also dismayed with how so few responded to our survey - one. Willingness to collaborate, share and discover in diversity and inclusion is the type of context that we need that can really help measure progress. In my (humble) opinion, willingness is the first step towards inclusion.
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