UK bank Natwest to increase number of top Black staff

United Kingdom bank Natwest said on Tuesday, October 20, it would increase the number of Black staff in senior roles amid the protest movement sparked by the killing of African American George Floyd.

State-owned Natwest, formerly known as Royal Bank of Scotland, said it would also continue to offer more top job opportunities for staff from Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds following the findings of a colleague-led task force.

“The commitments we are making will have a meaningful, positive impact for our colleagues and customers from Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic backgrounds, and for the communities we serve,” Natwest chief executive Alison Rose said in a statement on Tuesday.

Floyd’s death on May 25 became a symbol of what many say is systemic racism and abuse of African Americans by police, and sparked worldwide protests that continue under the banner of “Black Lives Matter.”

Natwest said that “following the death of George Floyd and [amid] the Black Lives Matter movement earlier this year, the task force was brought together to help the bank listen, learn, and better understand what more we can do to champion the potential of everyone.”

The bank said it was introducing a “target to have 3% Black colleagues in senior UK roles by 2025.”

It added: “This target is being introduced because there is a higher underrepresentation of Black colleagues in senior roles than other ethnic minority groups, relative to the UK’s working population.”

The bank’s new goal was “in addition to the existing target…to have at least 14% Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic leaders in senior UK roles by 2025.”

‘Mental impact’

Task force co-leads – Samuel Okafor, Shamraz Begum, and Yinka Fadina – said they were “delighted” by the opportunity to “help the bank better understand the challenges.”

They added: “We know what it’s like to be disadvantaged, to grow up experiencing poverty, to have parents who have migrated to the UK and had to endure years of racism.

“This impact is felt economically, emotionally, and mentally by minorities every day. That is why the work of this task force matters so much and allows us to put our purpose into action.”

It is the latest shake-up by Rose since she became the first female CEO of a major UK lender nearly one year ago.

As Royal Bank of Scotland was synonymous with the 2008 global financial crisis, having received the world’s biggest bank bailout, Rose swiftly changed the name to Natwest, a bank brand under the RBS umbrella.

Rose has also put the climate high on her agenda by ending loans for coal projects by 2030.

On greater racial equality, Natwest is joined by London-headquartered HSBC bank, which in July said it aims to double the number of Black staff across its senior leadership positions by 2025. – Rappler.com