The Diversity Project, the initiative set up a decade ago to champion inclusivity across the investments and savings industry, has changed its name in response to the global pushback against Diversity, Equality and Inclusivity (DEI).
The group, which is chaired by Baroness Helena Morrissey, has rebranded to Inclusive in Finance. It follows a campaign over several months that drew more than 200 suggestions for rebranding.
“Popular in almost all the suggestions was the word ‘inclusive’. We are not really a project anymore, we are bigger than that”, Morrissey said. “We’ll stamp our own mark on it. We had some suggestions that were too DEI-related or about developing talent, which can sound very HR-focused”.
The Diversity Project was founded in the UK in 2016. It spawned an initiative in the United States two years later with trade body Nicsa’s Diversity Project North America and Diversity Project Europe in 2023. All three, which among them oversee 130 member firms, will take on the new moniker.
The brand refresh comes amidst growing anti-DEI rhetoric globally, which has accelerated in the wake of Donald Trump’s return to the White House as US president at the start of last year. Wall Street executives have ditched targets to promote more women and ethnic minorities to their senior ranks and bosses in corporate America have U-turned on DEI initiatives.
In the UK, the issue of gender equality remains a priority. The gender pay gap has fallen to the lowest in a decade as a record number of companies disclose their figures. Employers are recognising that pay-gap reporting is not just a regulatory requirement, it’s a strategic imperative tied to talent, reputation, engagement, productivity and performance.
The largest pay gaps were reported in the financial services sector with smaller disparities in more female-heavy employment sectors such as hospitality, public administration and health.
Mindful of moving towards gender equality throughout the European Union, the Republic of Ireland had made much progress in that direction. Female representation on the boards of Ireland’s largest listed companies stood at 40 per cent last year, new figures show.
Ireland has also moved up the European rankings for female board representation. The country now ranks sixth across the European Union for the proportion of women on company boards, compared with 16th place looking back to 2018.
Coinciding with its rebrand, Inclusion in Finance outlined a set of global ambitions for the next five years, which include greater collaboration between the UK, US and European chapters.
Inclusion in Finance, which historically has focused on gender, ethnicity and socioeconomic diversity, will now place greater emphasis on cognitive diversity. It follows independent research commissioned last year by the London Business School professor Alex Edmans to examine the business case for diversity of thought. The research found that with effective leadership, cognitive diversity can enhance decision making and improve outcomes for businesses.
The five-year plan will also see Inclusion in Finance continue to address under representation, by expanding existing programmes to a broader section of financial services firms. These include its pathway programme, which aims to increase the number of women portfolio managers. Since its inception three years ago, 240 women have taken part across almost 80 firms.
An accreditation scheme will also be launched to allow firms to benchmark their progress and demonstrate they take inclusion seriously. Morrissy said the yet-to-be-named scheme will be data driven but include a focus on culture.
“Frankly if you don’t have the right culture, any progress made can be short-lived”, said Morrissey. “This isn’t about who can market themselves the best, but genuine cultures that will encourage inclusive talent to make progress”.
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