HSBC’s UK head wants more out gay bosses
GAY BOSSES have a responsibility to come out and be counted, HSBC’s UK chief said yesterday.
The City watchdog’s chairman urged banks to monitor lesbian, gay bisexual and trans (LGBT) progress more rigorously within their businesses to make sure the demographic was not left behind.
“There is a huge personal responsibility to come out and to be out,” HSBC’s Antonio Simoes told the Out on the Street conference at Deutsche Bank’s UK headquarters.
“It is not acceptable that we take for granted all the work done by others on issues such as marriage equality.”
And John Griffith-Jones from the Financial Conduct Authority told the event to focus intensely on equality and progress.
“You have got to start at the top, with a real determination to do something,” he said. “I am an accountant, so I favour metrics – not quite quotas, but we need to measure progress, we need a firm target and a real concentration on meaning it.”
The FCA chairman said he was satisfied the regulator had succeeded in its LGBT policies as it had a swathe of senior staff from the demographic.