Ethnic minorities should make up a third of new hires at Lloyd’s of London

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In an effort to improve diversity, Lloyd’s of London stated on Friday that it wants a third of the commercial insurance market’s staff to be ethnic minorities. Lloyd’s underwriting and broking firms employ around 50,000 people to arrange specialized risks ranging from oil rigs to players’ legs.

According to Lloyd’s figures, ethnic minorities account for barely 8% of the market today. The figure is 22% at the Lloyd’s Corporation, which oversees the market. In a statement, Lloyd’s stated that their “ambition” was for a third of all new hires, at all levels, including leadership, to come from ethnic minority backgrounds.

“Almost certainly, quite a lot of ethnic minorities aren’t that interested in insurance and not particularly interested in exploring insurance as a career,” Lloyd’s chairman Bruce Carnegie-Brown stated.

“Even those that are might not think that they’d be welcome. We need to work in a different way to make ourselves more accessible and more interesting.”

Lloyd’s also stated that ethnicity data would be collected across the board. Currently, just 74% of companies give this information. After admitting the market has issues with sexual harassment and daytime drinking, Lloyd’s has been working to improve its reputation on diversity and inclusion in recent years.