Women In Finance Charter

Business

"Working together to build a balanced and fair industry"

“At London Stock Exchange Group, we believe that a diverse group of colleagues and a commitment to equal opportunities for all are key to driving innovation and building a culture that reflects our values, our global customers and the communities in which we operate around the world.

As part of that commitment, LSEG was an early signatory to the HMT Women in Finance Charter in 2016. We have continued to make steady progress towards our 2020 target of 40% females across our Group and in Senior Management positions. We chose to set a tough, aspirational target to stretch the thinking and actions of those senior leaders in a position to make a difference. While we recognise that this makes us less likely to hit our target this year, we think the benefits of having a stretching target have been high and have increased gender balance across the Group since 2016.

The Executive Committee and I continue to focus on the HMT Women in Finance target and ask all colleagues to continue to support our diversity and inclusion efforts. Embracing the many forms of diversity across the Group makes us a stronger team.” David Schwimmer, CEO

“At London Stock Exchange Group, one of our strategic objectives is supporting an inclusive culture and increasing our Diversity across the Group.

This year alone, The Diversity and Inclusion Committee that I chair has acted as the sponsor of our Inclusion Network launch and successfully transitioning to remote working to support all colleagues.

Over the years, I have seen our support and engagement for diversity grow and expect this commitment growing further. While we are focused on increasing female representation across the Group, we are also committed to promoting diversity within the financial services industry. What I am most proud of is that it is being sponsored and championed by the entire Executive Committee, not just by one or two individuals, and as a results it has already started to transform our culture.”

Diane Côté, Chief Risk Officer, Member of LSEG Executive Committee, Chair of ExCo Diversity Committee and Chair, Women Inspired Network (WIN)

What are we doing?

Hiring

Partnering with recruiters to ensure diverse shortlists, which have gender diversity as a focus.
Implemented Interview Skills training (as part of Manager Excellence) to educate and eliminate bias in the recruitment process.
Internal mobility review completed with the aim to improve visibility of internal roles and promote opportunities for female colleagues.
Software implemented to gender neutralise job descriptions.
We undertook a Talent Review to better understand the talent that exists across senior manager level population to identify high performing females for development opportunities.
54% of Graduate population were female hires.

Mentoring

15 female Directors participated in the Runway programme, designed to support female talent readiness for senior roles and create bespoke development plans.
We launched 30% Club (a cross-company global mentoring programme), consisting of 20 mentees (female talent at the Manager and Director career stage) and 20 mentors (senior leaders, 10 of which were female).
We expect these initiatives to support the development of female talent and increase the awareness of the benefits of a diverse workforce.

Employee Education (Undertaken)

Unconscious Bias Training is mandatory for all new joiners to LSEG.
We have a suite of learning tools available to support the development of our female talent.
We also have external partnerships that support the development of female talent. Our partnership with Elevate, Moving Ahead and FT Women in Business Forum, specifically support the development of female talent.
We expect these training programmes and partnerships to strengthen the awareness of the importance of diversity and inclusion and support our employees in developing in this evolving environment.

Women Inspired Network (WIN)

WIN is working to enhance our business and to support female employees in developing their careers
WIN is open to all employees globally, and currently has group-wide representation on the Steering Committee (from the UK, US, Italy, France, Sri Lanka, further APAC regions and most recently Romania)

Inclusion Network

We have launched our new global Inclusion Network (IN) which will embrace networks supporting all elements of diversity. Global Networks include Black Employee Inspired Network, Parents and Caregivers Networks, Proud Network, Multicultural Network, Veterans Network, Ability Network and Women Inspired Network
Inclusion Network meet on a monthly basis to connect and support colleagues

2020 progress update

We are pleased to report that overall female representation has increased from 30%, when we signed the charter, to 34% at present. Our senior management population - as defined by our Executive Committee, their reports and their reports (ExCo-2) - was 30% female when we signed the Charter in 2016 and it is now 36%. We recognise we have some way to go to achieve 40% in both categories and we are committed to continuing to work towards our targets past 2020.