The Bank of England governor has accepted a report that found that the institution was falling short of its diversity and inclusion targets and has pledged to boost its efforts.

The Bank’s review, published today (21 July), found that the central bank had “not yet made sufficient progress on the important issue of ethnic diversity and inclusion”.

It has issued a series of recommendations to kick-start the bank’s efforts to broaden its workforce.

These include “transparently hold managers responsible for allocating opportunities equitably”, boosting efforts to attract and hire black staff to early career schemes, and improving “all recruitment practices to level the playing field”.

The report, called the Review of Ethnic Diversity and Inclusion at the Bank, was chaired by the Bank’s non-executive director of court Diana Noble to look at the diversity of its workforce since the body acknowledged this was an issue in 2014.

It found that its black and ethnic minority representation at senior levels was 3% of the workforce in 2014, 8.2% in November 2020, with a target of 10% by the end of 2020.

For female representation at senior levels, this was 20% in 2014, 31.7% in November 2020, with a target of 35% by the end of 2020. 

The Bank says: “The decision to conduct the review was prompted by an awareness on the part of the Bank that it was not moving far or fast enough on diversity and inclusion.”

As a result the Bank has set new targets that are set for the end of February 2028 (with a review in 2025). These are:

• 18-20% of senior managers to be black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME)
• 40-44% of senior managers to be female
• 20% of new appointments at executive director and director level to be BAME
• Gender parity on new appointments at executive director and director level
• 10% of graduate intake to be black (including mixed)
• 5% of managers and above to be black (including mixed)

Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey says: “I, alongside my fellow governors and court, will lead the changes we need to make and implement the review’s recommendations in full. I am confident we can make this institution an organisation where everyone can thrive and feel proud.” 

The Bank’s Ethnic Minorities Network say the report’s “findings of which were not news to minority ethnic colleagues”.

The group adds: “We support the Bank in its transparency and willingness to face up to and tackle these issues head-on, through a concerted effort and commitment from the Bank leadership to fully implement the recommendations agreed with Court. 

“It is so important for a public organisation like the Bank to take the lead in becoming the organisation it aspires to be for the benefit of all its staff.”