Andrew Keating on Diversity & Inclusion
Building an inclusive business, an inclusive culture, is a challenge.
Our clients are still looking for answers; wanting to know what others are doing; still feeling like whatever has been done, is not enough.
We wanted to do something practical to help our clients do more in this space so we simply posed the question ‘How do we make the Irish financial services and Fintech industries more inclusive and more diverse?”.
Respondents included growing Irish FinTechs, long-established financial services companies, and D&I experts from Ireland and the UK.
In this extract from our Diversity & Inclusion Report, Andrew Keating (former Group Chief Financial Officer and Executive Sponsor of Inclusion & Diversity at Bank of Ireland) shares his insights on this key issue.
Before we begin, here is Paul Smyth's (Top Tier Recruitment) speech launching the Report at a FuSIoN (Financial Services Inclusion Network) event in Dublin.
Paul Smyth Launching The Diversity & Inclusion Report
Andrew Keating (Bank of Ireland) on Diversity & Inclusion
It is a well-known fact that sharing an authentic commitment to inclusion and diversity is imperative for organisations looking to attract, develop and retain the diverse range of talents needed to survive and thrive. It is also a clear differentiator for strengthened decision making and innovation.
As an employer and as a provider of services to our customers and communities, operating in what can at times be seen as a somewhat traditional and conservative financial services industry, it is important that actions start to take place on a more global scale for Financial Service providers including;
1. Seeing is believing
Financial Services as an industry needs to instil trust through transparency. Most organisations still have a way to travel to reach their Inclusion & Diversity ambitions – but rather than hearing nothing, the market should be brought through the journey in reaching these ambitions.
As an industry, we need to strengthen the approach in sharing progress in building a greater diversity of participation at all levels, and particularly at senior management.
At Bank of Ireland, we are working towards a goal for gender parity in senior appointments by the end of 2021 – a goal which we have communicated widely.
We also have a vibrant colleague-led Inclusion & Diversity community, which is the very definition of inclusion in that everybody has an equal voice at the table.
2. The future of working flexibly
Appeal to today’s and tomorrow’s talent pool by showcasing Financial Services roles and working environments which are designed with inclusion in mind.
At Bank of Ireland we are focused on transformation as one of our top strategic priorities – which includes modernising our ways of working.
Financial Services organisations need to increase the opportunity of making modern ways of working the norm, to attract and retain the diverse talent that is needed.
3. Expect suppliers to meet your I&D standards
If the whole is greater than the sum of the parts, then this absolutely applies to the ecosystem of Financial Services.
If all of the interconnected players within our industry understand and drive towards a similar inclusion and diversity philosophy we will reach our shared destination earlier.
At Bank of Ireland, we are focussing on developing supplier diversity standards, to clarify expectations of all of our partners and suppliers in terms of Inclusion and Diversity, as they too have a direct impact on supporting positive change on our Inclusion and Diversity goals.
Read The Full Diversity & Inclusion Report
Thanks to Andrew for sharing his excellent insights in our Diversity & Inclusion Report.
To download the full document, visit the Diversity & Inclusion Report page.
Need Help?
If you want any help or you are interested in one of our roles in the Fintech and financial services industry, get in touch with us at Top Tier Recruitment.
Check out our podcast and, if there's ever anything that you would like discussed, feel free to get in touch, info@ttrmail.com.