How our #WRA23 sponsors support inclusion in the industry

L&C

We are on a mission to champion an inclusive and diverse workplace where everyone feels that they can bring their whole and true-self to work. We are still on a journey but we believe in honesty, transparency, and open conversations to create a space where everyone feels they belong. Out of this ethos, the ‘We Belong group’ was formed which is made up of members transcending hierarchy , who are championing change and sharing lived experience to build community and ally-ship across the organisation.

One Mortgage System

Discrimination and inequality has no place in our industry and we have a zero tolerance policy towards this. We will also not work with firms who fail to live up to the standards we set in relation to diversity and equality.

Together

We are committed to changing our industry for the better. We venture to help make the financial sector more diverse, more empowering for women and more equitable.

Hodge

Hodge's Equality Network sets out to tackle inequality across the business. Every person, regardless of ethnicity, gender, age, disability or social class deserves to be treated equally. Through allyship workshops, listening sessions and a business-wide approach to staff engagement, the Equality Network is making steady progress.

Hope Capital

Diversity, inclusion and equality has always been at the forefront of everything Hope Capital stands for. Making a traditionally male-dominated industry not only a welcoming space for women, but also one where everyone is provided with the same opportunities to thrive, is extremely important to me. From our commitment to The Women In Finance Charter, our work with mental health organisations, and our ongoing support to a local female charity, we’re devoted to creating a pro-diversity culture that embraces and nurtures all the talent in the company, as well as outside the business.

Standard Life Home Finance

Standard Life Home Finance have undertaken annual research, called The Lightbulb Moment. The report will be published shortly . This research will help advisers understand their client's thought process before seeking advice on such a major financial decision. It looks at it from various outputs, mass affluent as well as gender specific.

Market Financial Solutions

As keen advocators of diversity and supporting women in finance, MFS recently conducted a companywide survey to get a picture of how we were faring when it came to diversity and inclusivity. We discovered that almost half of our employees (44%) identify as female. What’s more, only two fifths (38%) of the MFS team describe themselves as English, Welsh, Scottish, Northern Irish or British. A further 18% are Indian, with a wide range of other nationalities and ethnicities – from Chinese to Pakistani, Lithuanian to Polish – making up the remaining 44%. MFS have always been advocates for diversity within the financial industry, so it was amazing to hear that our employees speak more than 20 languages between them, including French, Latvian, Portuguese, Greek, Tamil, Hindi, Malayalam, Romanian, Polish, Russian, Spanish, Farsi, Urdu, Gujarati, Marathi and German. The majority (52%) of the MFS team speaks multiple languages.

Hampshire Trust Bank

We don't just talk the talk, we walk the walk. We have a strong representation of woman throughout the Development Finance division of the Bank. Three out of the five senior team are woman and 40% of the whole team is women (which is incredible given just how male dominated the industry is). It's not just about having a senior women role models, but we need women at every level. This everyday visibility means I often get approached directly by women across the industry asking to join us for this very fact.

The Mortgage Lender

Within TML, the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Steering Group exists to promote and support an inclusive and diverse workplace and in society at large. The group’s activities support our ESG goals, locally and at group level, by taking action to foster equality where it does not yet exist and working towards great equity of opportunities and outcomes in all our endeavours. A key element of our EDI strategy is to better understand how we measure success and ensure everyone has the best possible experiences in their career at TML. Not only do we strive to make improvements within our business, but we also work hard on raising awareness, which is reflected through our external social media content.

more2life

Our People Strategy has resulted in clear and tangible positive outcomes. Our sustainability approach will now focus specifically on equality, diversity and inclusion. Diversity and inclusion, of course, is not just about gender or race. It’s about everyone feeling like they belong. Having that diversity of thought means we get more perspectives and will improve decision making. We’ve seen a significant improvement to date on the gender balance of our Executive Team and the diversity of our colleague base. However, we believe we can still do more. For example, a lack of female advisers is an industry-wide issue that we’d like to address at more2life. And as part of our sustainability approach, and in order to drive further diversity and inclusion, we have identified three aspirations we’d like to achieve over the next five years, which will be tracked annually as part of our People Scorecard:

1. % of women on our Senior Management Team (45% in 2023, up from 36% YOY)
2. % of our advice channel to be female (25% in 2023, up from 19% YOY)
3. % of our colleagues to identify as BAME (15% in 2023, up from 13% YOY)