Country: United Kingdom
IA will also ‘red-top’ companies with 30% or less female directors IA will also ‘red-top’ companies with 30% or less female directors IA will also ‘red-top’ companies with 30% or less female directors
Feb 24th, 2021
The UK’s Investment Association will rate the absence of disclosure on board ethnic diversity at FTSE350 companies as a “significant issue” in its proxy advice for the first time this year.
The IA is a national trade body for asset managers, and its members represent £8.5tn of investments. Its Institutional Voting Information Service (IVIS) rates companies on issues such as climate change, executive pay, gender diversity and - making its debut as a topic this year - ethnic diversity.
IVIS will issue an ‘amber-top’ (signifying a “significant issue”) to firms that do not disclose either the ethnic diversity of their board, or a credible action plan to have at least one director from an ethnic minority background this year - a recommendation of the government-commissioned Parker Review into ethnic and cultural diversity on UK Boards.
Last March, that review found that 59% of 256 large UK companies had no minority board members; this rose to…