The Association of British Insurers is strengthening its commitment to LGBT+ inclusion by partnering with OUTstanding, a global professional network. This complements wider ABI work to support diversity within the industry.
The ABI’s partnership will support employees internally through mentoring and leadership programmes and also create new opportunities for ABI member firms as they work to build a more diverse and inclusive insurance and long-term savings industry.
Yvonne Braun, Director of Policy, Long-term Savings and Protection, will be the ABI’s executive sponsor for the scheme.
Yvonne said:
“The insurance and long-term savings industry touches almost every citizen in this country by protecting them and helping them invest for the future. This social purpose makes it crucial for the industry to fully reflect the communities we serve, including the LGBT+ community. We can only do this by fostering diversity of thought, background and experience in our leadership and our workforce.
“The ABI wants to help create an insurance and long-terms savings industry where everyone can be authentic - we know that this will bring out the best in people, companies and society. We are very excited about working with OUTstanding and our members to build a genuinely inclusive culture across the sector."
CEO and founder of OUTstanding, Suki Sandhu, said:
“We’re delighted the ABI is taking another step towards fostering a truly inclusive culture by partnering with us. OUTstanding is built on the belief that businesses should reflect the societies they serve and our work with the ABI is a great opportunity to boost industrywide efforts on LGBT+ inclusion.”
This new commitment to OUTstanding is just part of the ABI’s activities during a year in which Director General Huw Evans has committed to put diversity front and centre of the organisation’s activities.
The ABI is a signatory to the Women in Finance Charter with targets to support the representation of women among the ABI's management team.
- The ABI also supports the industrywide Dive In festival with Huw Evans having led a discussion with Ben Cohen on LGBT+ inclusion at Dive In last year, and Louise Hanson on the Steering Committee for Dive In 2017.
- The ABI's Future Leaders programme provides a development opportunity for up and coming senior leaders within the industry and we commit to ensuring there is good gender balance among the programme intake.
- The ABI has also supported the Insurance HeForShe campaign for gender parity with Huw Evans making a personal commitment to mentor two women at different stages of their careers.
- The ABI runs a Why Insurance Matters initiative to empower new talent in the industry and is creating useful points of engagement to support this network of younger industry professionals.