Finance and law firms, in particular, are stepping up their drive for gender equality and diversity particularly in the UK and US. Investment bank, Morgan Stanley has enlisted 300 of its mid-ranking bankers for a new programme intended to increase the number of ethnic minorities from lower socioeconomic backgrounds in the financial sector.
The investment bank has rolled out a new scheme called Advancing Futures, in which 300 of its vice-presidents in London will mentor UK students from less well-off backgrounds on how to move their career ambitions forward.
Morgan Stanley’s head of diversity and inclusion for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Gabrielle Lyse Brown said in a statement: “It is a critical priority for us as a firm to reduce barriers to entry and address inequitable career opportunities for young people from underserved communities.” Investment banks face pressure to increase ethnic diversity within their UK operations, particularly in the wake of the revival of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020. The socioeconomic background of potential candidates has long been a sticking point in the sector in the UK, with those from working-class backgrounds largely locked out of highly-competitive and lucrative banking roles.
In September Morgan Stanley unveiled a new recruitment programme to hire 10 Black or female candidates who have had no prior experience of the industry for its London trading floor. It has also launched a £1m-plus a year programme to provide funding for 25 UK students from ethnic minority and lower socioeconomic backgrounds during university and an internship at the bank.
Standard Chartered, meanwhile, has launched an apprenticeship on its trading floor that does not require any academic qualifications, in a bid to increase socioeconomic and ethnic diversity in its key roles. JPMorgan also offered a route into a high-paying investment banking job for a select group of school-leavers through a new apprenticeship scheme in 2020.
An investigation found that working-class graduates from the UK were still largely locked out of investment banking jobs, despite many specific programmes in place to try to bolster the number of recruits from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. Working-class graduates were found to lack the ‘polish’ required for many front office roles.
With equality and diversity in mind, corporate law firm, Linklaters has promoted 41 lawyers to its partnership, including 17 in its London office. The Magic Circle firm has increased the size of its partnership round from the previous year, when it promoted 35 lawyers to partner.
Women make up 41 per cent of the new partner cohort, meaning the firm met its target of promoting at least 40 per cent female partners each year. The promotions took effect on 1 May. Finance is the division with the most of the new partners with 24, followed by corporate with 16. Only one partner was promoted in dispute resolution.
Mainland Europe saw 15 new partners promoted. Asia and the Americas had four new partners apiece, and one partner was promoted in the Middle East. Linklaters senior partner, Aedamar Comiskey, said in a statement: “Each promotion is a hugely deserved recognition of top talent, hard work and dedication to delivering strategic excellence.” Linklaters had a strong 2021 amid a global M&A boom, posting a 10 per cent jump in profit per equity partner to £1.77m, with revenue up 2 per cent to £1.6bn. Last month, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer also promoted 27 lawyers to partner, including seven from its London office. Fellow Magic Circle firm, Slaughter and May, said in March it was promoting eight lawyers to its partnership. With diversity as an aim, it all amounts to a move in the right direction.
Andy Jalil
andyjalil@aol.com
The writer is our foreign correspondent based in the UK
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