Evidence continues to show how a commitment to diversity and inclusion contributes to fairer and more effective businesses – more balanced decisions, greater innovation, better client outcomes. We know that the impact of this also extends to the role we play as a responsible investor and in the communities we are part of The impact of the pandemic has made this all the more significant. For many of us, the way we live and work has changed beyond recognition since the onset of COVID-19. There are also many existing social inequalities that have been highlighted and compounded. Movements for change including Black Lives Matter and #MeToo have been profoundly felt and have generated important global conversations. We are constantly looking for ways to go further: to make sure that our people can be at their best; to shape new and better ways of working; and to contribute to wider industry and social change. The targets and pledges we have for improving workforce diversity reflect our ongoing commitment and will help us build on our progress.

I’m proud of what we’re already achieving together. We set our first ethnicity target in November 2020 and, after reaching our previous gender representation targets ahead of schedule, our new ones will challenge us to do more. My leadership team are driving action plans across our regions and functions. And when it comes to measuring progress against our peers, I’m pleased to say that we’ve had some real successes – we are having the highest percentage of female fund managers in a company of our size; and recognition by Equileap as a global leader for employer-sponsored parent leave. There is still more to do. We’ll keep listening to our clients, collaborating with our colleagues and working across the industry to bring collective influence and impact, and, importantly, speed up progress. We are on a journey to build a new, more inclusive future