Lloyd’s promises to increase female, black & minority ethnic representation

Specialist re/insurance marketplace Lloyd's has launched a new culture dashboard, alongside setting a gender target for the market, in order to drive long-term culture change and build a more inclusive environment across the London Market.

Lloyd's stated that it is equally committed to increasing the representation of Black and Minority Ethnic colleagues across the market, and importantly across leadership roles.

The marketplace is setting an interim target of 35 percent female representation in leadership positions to be achieved by the end of 2023. In addition, boards and executive committees combined will be expected to achieve at least 20 percent female representation by the end of 2023. New market entrants will be expected to meet these expectations on arrival.

Lloyd’s said that it is committing to a medium-term ambition for parity over the next decade. Its culture dashboard will be updated annually by data gathered from the largest ever culture survey in the sector undertaken for the first time last year, as well as market participant data across key demographic characteristics. It is intended to transparently track Lloyd’s collective progress towards a much more inclusive environment.

The dashboard will represent the market’s progress across key culture indicators, including the current view of gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation and disability, alongside the importance of culture within individual firms.

Lloyd’s recognised that "there is more work to be done" to build and improve its data and in doing so ensure that it is presenting the most accurate view of where the market stands collectively. Lloyd’s will be running its annual Culture Survey for the second time in October this year.

Moreover, Lloyd's seeks to set a market target for ethnicity in Q2 2021 to help improve the experience of Black and Minority Ethnic talent across the market.

John Neal, Lloyd's CEO, said: "Last year, we committed to building a much more inclusive market – one that we are all deeply proud to be part of, and one that welcomes and represents the diversity of our customers globally. In the Corporation, we have achieved parity in less than two years and we are all the better for it. While we have put in place a series of actions to accelerate change, it is abundantly clear that we have much work to do and we must be impatient in our resolve to get there. The Corporation will continue to do more in leading the market on all aspects of inclusion.

Fiona Luck, Lloyd’s board member and non-executive director responsible for talent and culture, said: “Creating an inclusive and high-performing culture is fundamental to the future success of our marketplace. To get there we must be brave in our actions to accelerate change, and transparent in how we measure our progress and hold ourselves to account. The setting of a gender target, with a commitment to parity in the next decade, together with presenting an honest view of our starting point, represents an important step towards that critical goal.”