DiverCity Podcast: Talking Diversity and Inclusion in the Financial Services Industry

Tracey Groves, CEO and Founder of Intelligent Ethics, and Sylvia Carrasco, Founder and CEO of Goldex Technologies, discuss the importance of collective accountability in organisations, creating an ethical business in an unregulated market, inclusive recruitment and advertising, how AI systems are being designed, developed, implemented, measured and assessed to drive the right outcomes, the importance of ensuring that human biases aren’t embedded into AI, and the role of governments and schools in educating citizens and future generations about these new, powerful technologies.

Adam Conn, Head of Trading at Baillie Gifford, and Mark Fryer, Director and board member of ABSTRACT, discuss improving diversity on trading floors, supporting the next generation of senior talent, accelerating the pace of change at board level, creating inclusive organisations, how flexible working can improve employee retention, why firms with rigid recruitment processes may be missing out, and why we must improve perceptions of financial services in order to attract people from outside the industry.

This episode was recorded live at Sibos 2018 in Sydney, on Monday 22nd October 2018, as part of The Swift Institute’s programme 'Bridging the gap between academia and the financial industry'.

Our host Julia Streets was joined by Rae Cooper, Professor of Gender, Work and Employment Relations, Associate Dean in the University of Sydney Business School and Director of the Women Work and Leadership Research Group at the University of Sydney, Rosemary Stone, Global Head of Human Resources at SWIFT, and Sam Turner, Head of Inclusion & Diversity for the Westpac Group. Topics discussed included the war on talent in financial services, neurodiversity, creating more inclusive teams and leaders, financial incentives around D&I, intersectionality, managing potential backlash, retraining and reskilling in response to industry demand, the importance of changing corporate policies, and how younger generations are paving the way for true equality.

Kimberley Cole, Head of Solution Sales at Refinitiv (Formerly Thomson Reuters Financial & Risk), discusses the rising number of women in Governance, Risk and Compliance, the importance of mentorship, collaboration and role models, how regulators themselves are starting to create more diverse teams, the need to attract younger talent, the enormity of the challenge of addressing modern-day slavery and human trafficking, and the steps financial institutions and their clients can take to help combat the problem.

Charlotte Crosswell, CEO of Innovate Finance, and Geoffrey Williams, Director/Head of Diversity & Inclusion EMEA at Thomson Reuters, discuss Innovate Finance's Diversity initiative, how the FinTech sector can attract more female talent, creating more inclusive organisations, attracting talent from all walks of life, the importance of real-time feedback, managing change, the need for more role models, the importance of speaking to young children about their career options, and how men are driving organisations to incorporate flexible working.

Sally Todd, President of City Women Network (CWN), and Chris Newlands, Editor of Financial News, discuss ways to improve the diversity balance in business, The #MeToo Movement, addressing pipeline dynamics, increased media and reader appetite for D&I-related stories, the reluctance of some organisations to implement change, flexible/agile working, how regulations are driving cultural change and increasing D&I in the world of journalism.

Divercity Episode 28 (Sally & Chris)MASTER by Julia Streets Productions

This episode was recorded live at the Women of the Payments Conference in Toronto on Thursday 27th September, 2018. Our host Julia Streets was joined by: Rania Llewellyn, Executive Vice President of Global Business Payments, Suzan Denoncourt, Managing Director of Ingenico Group Canada, and Tanya van Biesen, Executive Director of Catalyst's operations in Canada. Topics discussed included: how to make D&I a business imperative, why diversity is not a zero sum game, the existence of conscious biases, the importance of hard metrics and accountability, whether some organisations are overcomplicating the problem, and reasons to be optimistic about the future.

Lord Holmes of Richmond MBE, and Claire Harvey MBE, Chief Executive of Diversity Role Models, discuss why inclusion is the bedrock of innovation, the need to seek out and embrace often overlooked disabled talent, the impact of The Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), how to incentivise and reward behaviours that drive greater D&I, tackling the awkwardness of disability language, and why greater accessibility will drive employment figures for those with disabilities.

Andy Lee, Strategic Lead for Diversity in Business for The Royal Bank of Scotland & NatWest Business Banking, and Bizhan Tong, overseeing Client Experience within Barclays Private Bank and Overseas Services, discuss why individuals from ethnic minorities, immigrants, women and young people are starting more businesses than ever before, the importance of supporting female talent at middle management level, the shared learning between banks and entrepreneurs, the power of interconnectivity between different networks and using the medium of film to enact social change.