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Lloyd’s acts to close gender gap in leadership positions

Insurers and brokers operating in the Lloyd’s market have been told they must have at least 35% of leadership roles filled by females by the end of 2023.

These positions must either be board members, executive committee members and direct reports of the executive committee members.

Lloyd’s announced the requirements last week as part of actions it promised to take to improve workplace behaviour, after a culture survey last year found women’s responses were more negative than men’s.

Additionally boards and executive committees must have a combined female representation of at least 20% by the same deadline, with new market entrants expected to meet the targets on arrival.

Women already account for 47% of the Lloyd’s Corporation’s leadership positions.

“The market target will drive an improvement in the gender balance in leadership roles across the market in the short-term, with Lloyd’s committing to a medium-term ambition for parity over the next decade,” the announcement says.

Lloyd’s intends to increase the representation of Black and minority ethnic employees in the market and leadership roles. It hopes to set a market target for ethnicity in the second quarter of next year and intends to improve its collection of relevant data before setting the metrics.

The business launched a “culture dashboard” last week to track its progress in areas such as gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation and disability.

“Last year, we committed to building a much more inclusive market – one that we are all deeply proud to be part of, and one that welcomes and represents the diversity of our customers globally, Lloyd’s CEO John Neal said.

“While we have put in place a series of actions to accelerate change, it is abundantly clear that we have much work to do and we must be impatient in our resolve to get there. The corporation will continue to do more in leading the market on all aspects of inclusion.”