New body focuses on improving socio-economic diversity at senior levels
Twelve organisations have founded a new, nationwide membership body focused on improving socio-economic diversity at senior levels in the financial services sector.
This was announced by Paragon Bank, one of the founding partners of Progress Together.
The body was launched as a survey of nearly 10,000 people from 50 financial and professional services firms found that employees from non-professional backgrounds are 30% less likely to be working at a senior level compared with colleagues from professional backgrounds.
Progress Together builds on 100s of hours of roundtables, interviews and extensive research, including an earlier Bridge Group report which showed that 89% of senior roles in financial services are held by people from higher socio-economic backgrounds and that employees from lower socio-economic backgrounds progress 25% slower than peers, with no link to performance.
Paragon Bank said it will collaborate with partners from across the financial services industry so Progress Together can understand how much these findings affect organisational and sector-wide productivity.
Richard Rowntree (pictured), managing director of mortgages at Paragon Bank, said improving socio-economic diversity within financial services is an important area.
“There are too many talented people in the financial services sector that fail to reach senior levels, which is a detriment to the individual firms and the sector as a whole. As an industry, we have to change this,” he stressed.
Catherine McGuinness, chair of the Socio-Economic Diversity Taskforce, said Progress Together continues the important work of the government-commissioned Socio-Economic Diversity Taskforce.
Established in 2020, the independent taskforce is run by the City of London Corporation and exists to boost productivity and levelling up opportunities.
“The taskforce conducted hundreds of hours of roundtables and interviews, as well as extensive research to identify what steps could help improve socio-economic diversity at senior levels in the sector. The launch of Progress Together will advance our vision of a sector where performance is valued over fit and polish,” McGuinness said.
Other founder-members of Progress Together include Accenture, Allen and Overy, Aviva, AXA Health, City of London Corporation, EY, Fidelity International, Man Group, PwC, Santander, and Schroders.
The body is open to UK financial services employers of all sizes, at any point on their socio-economic diversity journey. To join the body and access support in boosting socio-economic diversity at the top, organisations can visit Progress Together’s website.
