Quarter of firms reach Lloyd’s 35% target for women leaders
(Reuters) — A quarter of companies operating at Lloyd’s of London have reached the commercial insurance market’s target for 35% of leaders to be women, though progress on diversity was “incremental,” Lloyds said in a report Monday.
Lloyd’s has been trying to improve diversity in the market, which employs around 45,000 people in insurance and broking companies based in the City of London financial district.
Lloyd's, which has previously acknowledged issues with sexual harassment and daytime drinking, published its first culture report in 2020 and has set targets for improvement.
Eighteen companies, or 26% of those surveyed, met or exceeded the target for 35% of boards, executive committees and those committees' direct reports to be women, Lloyd's said.
It added that women currently fill 30% of leadership positions, The 35% target is supposed to be met by the end of 2023.
Sixty-three percent of companies increased their proportion of women in leadership in the past year.
However, the average gender pay gap across Lloyd's market companies remains high, at 37%.
Ethnic minority representation rose by one percentage point to 9%.
Eleven companies reached Lloyd's “ambition” for one in three new hires to have an ethnic minority background.
“Representation of women and ethnic minorities (is) improving across our market — but we can’t be complacent,” Lloyd's of London CEO John Neal said.
“We need to keep that momentum going, and address any areas of weakness, to maintain Lloyd’s unique ability to attract, connect and grow the best talent in our industry.”
