Quarter of firms reach Lloyd’s of London 35% target for women leaders

LONDON (Reuters) – A quarter of firms 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”, Lloyd’s said in a report on Monday.

Lloyd’s has been trying to improve diversity in the market, which employs around 45,000 people in insurance and broking firms 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 firms, 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 filled 30% of leadership positions, The 35% target is supposed to be met by the end of 2023.

Sixty-three percent of firms increased their proportion of women in leadership in the past year.

However, the average gender pay gap across Lloyd’s market firms remains high, at 37%.

Ethnic minority representation rose by one percentage point to 9%.

Eleven firms 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.”

Eighty-eight percent of the 9,500 respondents said they did not want to raise concerns about behaviour at their organisation.

Implementation of policies on alcohol and drugs was also among areas that needed to improve, Lloyd’s said.

(Reporting by Carolyn Cohn; Editing by Mark Potter)