Paragon Bank has announced it is one of 12 founding partners to form Progress Together, a new membership body focusing on improving socio-economic diversity at senior levels in the financial services sector. 

The other founding members include Accenture, Allen and Overy, Aviva, Axa Health, City of London Corporation, EY, Fidelity International, Man Group, PwC, Santander and Schroders.

The new body was launched at Mansion House in London, which was hosted by Lord Mayor of London Vincent Keaveny with the Economic Secretary to the Treasury, Minister John Glen.  

The body was formed after a survey of almost 10,000 from 50 financial and professional services firms found that employees from non-professional backgrounds are 30% less likely to be working at a senior level compared with colleagues from professional backgrounds.

A Bridge Group report showed that 89% of senior roles in financial services are held by people from higher socio-economic backgrounds, compared with 37% across the UK working population.

Meanwhile, employees from lower socio-economic backgrounds progress 25% slower than peers, with no link to performance. It also found that the class pay gap in FPS is £17,500, the largest by sector.

Paragon will collaborate with partners from across the financial services industry so Progress Together can understand how much these findings affect organisational and sector-wide productivity.

The body aims to support talented people to progress, regardless of background, and enable the UK to remain a global competitor. 

Commenting on the new body, Paragon Bank managing director of mortgages Richard Rowntree says: “We are thrilled to be launching Progress Together and proud to be one of the 12 founding members. Improving socio-economic diversity within financial services is an important area for me personally and professionally and creating an even playing field aligns with Paragon’s core values.”

“There are too many talented people in the financial services sector that fail to reach senior levels, which is a detriment to the individual firms and the sector as a whole. As an industry we have to change this,” Rowntree adds. 

Socio-economic diversity taskforce chair Catherine McGuinness comments: “Progress Together continues the important work of the Government commissioned Socio-Economic Diversity Taskforce. Established in 2020, the independent taskforce is run by the City of London Corporation and exists to boost productivity and levelling up opportunities. 

“The taskforce conducted hundreds of hours of roundtables and interviews as well as extensive research to identify what steps could help improve socio-economic diversity at senior levels in the sector. The launch of Progress Together will advance our vision of a sector where performance is valued over ‘fit’ and ‘polish’,” McGuinness explains.