Leaders of the Women in Securities Finance (WiSF) London Chapter have collaborated with the Bank of England (BoE) on promoting new best practice standards in the UK Money Markets Code (MMC) to enhance diversity, equity and inclusion.
The original code was introduced in 2017 with the aim of promoting the integrity, fair and effective functioning of the UK’s securities lending, repo and deposit markets.
Adherence to the code is voluntary and more than 220 institutions are signed up. It has also been endorsed by the Financial Conduct Authority, which recognises the updated code as an industry standard.
The amendments, published this week, represent the code’s first best practices focused on diversity, equity and inclusion and seek to reflect the modern working environment, with a particular emphasis on flexible working, which the pandemic revealed to be a viable long-term option.
Drafting of the best practice was influenced by securities lending industry figureheads Harpreet Bains, of J.P. Morgan and BNY Mellon’s Ina Budh-Raja, who also lead the WiSF London Chapter, which is committed to driving positive change in the industry.
Both are also members of the BoE’s securities lending committee, with Budh-Raja also serving as a member of the BoE’s Money Markets Committee and co-chair of the working group that led the revisions to the MMC’s securities lending chapter.
They have also sat on the board of the International Securities Lending Association since 2019 as well as holding senior management roles at their respective banks.
New best practices
Diversity and inclusion. The MMC now recognises and promotes the benefit of a diverse and inclusive money market team
Working from home. The updated code reflects the response to COVID-19, and emphasises it is acceptable to work from home, provided the same level of robust systems and controls are applied
Environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria. ESG criteria are becoming increasingly relevant to financial markets. The updated code adds commentary about the increasing importance of ESG
Electronic trading. Electronic trading via platforms is now more widely used than in 2017, especially in the repo market. The updated code sets out how it applies to such trading and details best practices for using electronic venues
Trade settlement discipline. The MMC stresses the importance of high standards of settlement discipline, in response to concern in the market that the level of non-settled trades has increased
“The benefits of a diverse and inclusive workforce are widely acknowledged, and market participants are expected to promote the development of such a workforce within their firms and through their market activities, in order to access a wider range of skills and diversity of thought,” the report reads.
Commenting on the new standards’ emphasis on flexible working, WiSF London Chapter says it is “recognised as valuable in enabling access to a wider range of roles by a broader talent pool of candidates from diverse backgrounds, bringing greater diversity of skills and lived experiences to the industry”.
Although hybrid working dynamics were already on the rise before the on-set of COVID-19 last year, the pandemic served to dispel the misconception that even senior or complex roles within financial institutions couldn’t be executed effectively away from the office.
WiSF is highlighting the opportunities that investment in remote working capabilities provide, which can assist anyone juggling professional roles and caregiving responsibilities.
The group says it is also sensitive to the pitfalls that the modern working environment may bring, including proximity bias, where remote-working colleagues could be overlooked by management in favour of office-based staff.
As such, the group is committed to promoting awareness of biases and “proactively stamping out prior stigmas and stereotypical views associated with flexible working and embedding support for active inclusion through a positive tone from the top”.
The revision to the code is an “essential reminder to this industry that this will require deliberate thought and action, in order to keep the dial moving on diversity and inclusion,” the group states.
Full article written by Women in Securities London Chapter, in collaboration with the Bank of England’s Sterling Markets Division, will be published in the next issue of Securities Finance Times.
