Season 3, Episode 2: The increasing importance of diversity

In the second episode of season 3 of the Compliance Clarified podcast Susannah Hammond is joined by Lindsey Rogerson and Henry Engler to discuss the increasing importance of diversity issues for financial services firms. Diversity, in and of itself, is an important issue but it has risen up regulatory agenda as it come under the umbrella of ESG issues which are fast becoming a strategic priority for firms and regulators alike. Alongside the headline grabbing need to tackle climate change, questions around human rights, social justice, and human diversity now also need to be managed alongside firms’ more traditional values and concerns. As discussed in the podcast here are some additional resources: TRRI’s new ESG report https://www.thomsonreuters.com/en-us/posts/legal/esg-report-2021/ Article summarising a New York Fed webinar on diversity: https://www.reuters.com/article/bc-finreg-corporate-diversity/corporate-diversity-inclusion-needs-focus-on-middle-management-influential-employees-ny-fed-webinar-idUSKBN2B11I4 Stanford University study of how U.S. companies have responded to a 2020 SEC human disclosure rule that required them to share more information about their workforce. https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/faculty-research/publications/human-capital-disclosure-what-do-companies-say-about-their-most Overview of U.S. SEC proposals on diversity disclosures https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-sec-prepares-take-corporate-america-over-workforce-disclosures-2021-08-16/ Harvard Business Review article that argues: “Increasing diversity does not, by itself, increase effectiveness; what matters is how an organization harnesses diversity, and whether it’s willing to reshape its power structure.” https://hbr.org/2020/11/getting-serious-about-diversity-enough-already-with-the-business-case Link to Regulatory Intelligence article UK regulators plan pilot diversity data collection, regular reporting to follow https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6851538365377069056/ Link to Regulatory Intelligence article Collecting and protecting diversity data in the finance sector: critical considerations https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6851540501397667840/ The UK’s Social Mobility Commission’s socio-economic questions https://socialmobilityworks.org/toolkit/financial-and-professional-measurement/ Link to the McKinsey research on diverse company outperformance https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/coronavirus-leading-through-the-crisis/charting-the-path-to-the-next-normal/most-diverse-companies-now-more-likely-than-ever-to-outperform-financiallyLink to academic paper which questions McKinsey's research https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3849562 Further information on Thomson Reuters Regulatory Intelligence can be found at: https://legal.thomsonreuters.com/en/products/regulatory-intelligence?elqTrackId=73370082102a4669b4d34524158b501c&elqaid=3945&elqat=2