Lloyds Banking Group sets BAME targets

Lloyds Banking Group has today (12th February 2018) announced it will set a public target to increase the representation of B.A.M.E colleagues in senior management positions to 8% across the group. The target is the first of its kind to be set by a FTSE 100 Company.

At present, 10% of the Group’s customers are from a B.A.M.E background and it is the Group’s long term ambition to accurately reflect the customer base it serves. With the B.A.M.E population currently under represented across UK companies, the Group is working to remove barriers for talented B.A.M.E colleagues to help create a truly inclusive workforce.

The Group’s public commitment aims to increase representation of B.A.M.E colleagues to 8% of senior management and, additionally, to 10% of the total workforce by 2020. Currently, 8.3% of all colleagues and 5.6% of senior management are from a B.A.M.E background . This compares to 12% of the UK labour force and 14% of the UK population.

The new target will be incorporated into the Group’s 2018 Helping Britain Prosper Plan, to be published on Wednesday 21 February, setting out significant public targets to help address some of the biggest social and economic issues facing Britain today.

In 2014, as part of its Helping Britain Prosper Plan, the Group made a public commitment to increase the engagement level of B.A.M.E colleagues to 70% by 2020 and achieved this target ahead of schedule by reaching 73% in 2017.

The Group has already made progress in improving racial and cultural diversity, through initiatives including:

• Career development programmes for B.A.M.E colleagues and leadership programmes for senior management
• Increasing visibility of B.A.M.E role models; the Group publishes an annual list of ethnicity role models and provides colleagues with opportunities to meet role models and hear their stories.
• A colleague network that aims to embrace the diversity of the Group’s race, ethnic and cultural heritage and offers an allies programme to help build supporter engagement and advocacy amongst colleagues.

Fiona Cannon, Lloyds Banking Group Director of Responsible Business and Inclusion says: “What gets measured gets done and we are confident we can meet our diversity goals with the right focus and determination. We recognise that companies with diverse management teams perform better and have made a public commitment to create a truly inclusive workforce. It is our ambition to better reflect the customers and communities which we serve.

“Our data shows that while we are making good progress, we think this rate of progress is too slow, so we are committing to bring change sooner. We want to put into place the right building blocks that will enable us to build our diverse talent pipeline and deliver on our commitment to Help Britain Prosper.”

About Lloyds Banking Group

Lloyds Banking Group is the UK’s biggest lender to SMEs, a leading mortgage provider to first time buyers and operates the UK’s largest digital bank. The Group’s main business activities are retail and commercial banking, general insurance and longterm savings, provided under well recognised brands including Lloyds Bank, Halifax, Bank of Scotland and Scottish Widows.

Helping Britain Prosper

The Group’s purpose is to help Britain Prosper, by using its scale and reach across the UK to help tackle the social and economic issues that matter most. One of the ways it is doing this is through its Helping Britain Prosper Plan, which was launched in 2014 and sets public targets in areas including housing, saving for the future, building digital skills, supporting business growth and the transition to the low carbon economy, tackling disadvantage and championing diversity and inclusion.