Diversity and Inclusion
At Close Brothers we celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive culture where all of our employees can feel proud to work for us, regardless of their background, experiences or personal circumstances.
Hear from some of our employees about their experiences at Close Brothers
A key enabler for our overall business success is our inclusive culture. We are proud to create an environment where colleagues can thrive and in turn, deliver excellent outcomes for customers.
We do this in several ways. Our three-year Diversity and Inclusion Strategy sets the tone of focus areas and priorities for our business, and an action plan how to achieve them.
Diversity and Inclusion priorities and focus areas:
- Priority 1: Ensure leadership and management engagement and accountability across all Diversity and Inclusion focus areas.
Attract, develop and retain the best talent
- Priority 2: Attract and recruit more diverse talent, and embrace equity in these processes.
- Priority 3: Enable growth, retain and support colleagues throughout their careers.
Increase psychological safety to maintain our strong inclusive culture
- Priority 4: Maintain an environment in which all colleagues feel psychologically safe, and provide targeted support for minority groups.
Deliver good, sustainable outcomes for our customers, and embed inclusion in our interactions with external partners
- Priority 5: Shape an inclusive brand and embrace inclusion in our interactions with customers, suppliers, corporate partners, charities and communities.
We continuously encourage our colleagues to share their demographic data with us, so we can make informed decisions about our Diversity and Inclusion programmes and target initiatives where most needed. In addition to the protected characteristics by UK law, we also collect data on veteran status and social mobility.
The central Diversity and Inclusion team partners closely with Talent Acquisition, Learning and Development, Employee Experience, and a range of stakeholders to deliver process and policy improvements, and high quality programmes.
We invest in, and promote, a range of Diversity and Inclusion initiatives in partnership with our employee networks and working groups, and with support from our Executive Leadership team.
You can read about them below.
At Close Brothers, we recognise that gender identity is broader than male and female and, although the government regulations do not require us to report in this way, we want to affirm that we welcome colleagues of all gender identities.
Gender Pay Gap Reports
Women in Finance Charter
We achieved our target of 30% of senior manager positions being held by women by 31 July 2020. We have since updated our target to 36% of senior managers being women by 2025. As of July 2024, the figure stood at 30.5%. Despite our best efforts, we did not progress towards meeting our 2025 senior management gender representation targets. To help address this, in May 2024, we launched our new Group Diversity and Inclusion Strategy which outlines our priorities and focus areas for the next three years, and an action plan.
Gender Balance Network
The Gender Balance Network was set up in 2021. Its mission is to identify and challenge imbalances to improve gender equality at every level across the organisation.
The Network focuses on three pillars to ‘ACT’:
- Advocate: Being the voice of gender equity at Close Brothers, by supporting the review of representation targets post 2025, contributing to gender pay gap reporting and initiatives addressing the gaps, and facilitating submissions for awards.
- Champion: Promoting an inclusive environment by increasing male allyship and enhancing engagement across networks internally and externally.
- Thrive: Taking proactive measures to support progression for all genders by helping the business identify and address barriers to progression, enhancing recruitment processes and reviewing internal policies.
The Network is a member of Gender Networks, a networking forum connecting volunteer leads from over 100 companies to share challenges, opportunities and peer support.
The Network is also spearheading our company’s partnership with charities such as Smart Works, who are dedicated to empowering women to reach their full potential, secure employment and change the trajectory of their lives.
30% Club
We partner with the 30% Club, an organisation focused on improving gender balance at senior level by providing cross-business mentoring for our talented women and other under-represented groups. Through the Mission Gender Equity and Mission Include programmes, hundreds of colleagues have volunteered as mentors and mentees.
Menoforum
Menoforum is our employee working group focusing on policy, education and cultural changes to make our workplace accommodating and welcoming to people experiencing the menopause. We have partnered with Henpicked, making it easier to get everyone talking about the menopause at work.
In 2025 we achieved the Menopause Friendly Employer accreditation, as well as previously winning the Award for Most Open Culture at the 2024 Menopause Friendly Employer Awards.
Our Working Parents and Carers Network understands that balancing family and caring responsibilities with working life can be very challenging. Thus, the Network was formed in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure that all colleagues feel supported and aware of the resources and tools available to help them find a better work-life balance, and thrive in their careers. Examples of notable initiatives include a maternity ally scheme for those returning from maternity leave, manager resources to support maternity leavers and those undergoing fertility treatment, Bring Your Child to Work Days in our London offices, and educational campaigns during Carers’ week.
In April 2020 we became signatories to the Race at Work Charter to help direct our actions around race equity and ensure that we have representation of ethnic minorities across all levels of the organisation.
Our current ethnic diversity monitoring data is at 85% completion for the Group and we are continuing to work on initiatives to make progress on this.
10,000 Black and Able Interns
We have partnered with the 10,000 Interns Foundation to offer paid work experience for interns who identify as Black or having a disability.
Cultural Heritage Network
The Cultural Heritage Network aims to improve cultural awareness and understanding so that, regardless of background, all colleagues feel a sense of belonging and are empowered to be allies to each other. Some examples include celebrations around Black History Month, Diwali and Ramadan. The Network also supports initiatives to increase ethnic minority representation at all levels and senior management in particular.
Professional Women of Colour is a working group sitting at the intersection of gender and ethnicity, and it creates learning opportunities and peer-to-peer support for ethnic minority women in the workplace.
At Close Brothers we are passionate about fairness and equality, and we’re committed to building an inclusive environment that enables all of our colleagues, including those who identify as LGBTQ+ to thrive.
Unity Network
Our LGBTQ+ Network brings together those who identify as LGBTQ+ and allies from across the Group. Our Pride celebrations are very popular every year, as are our LGBTQ+ History Month educational sessions and internal and external events.
Stonewall
We partner with Stonewall who have delivered specialist training on LGBTQ+ topics, such as transgender inclusion, and review our people policies to ensure they are inclusive to all. Our transgender policy was launched in 2024 in collaboration with the Unity Network and Stonewall.
Every June, the LGBTQ+ community and allies come together for a celebration of diversity, acceptance and self-pride during Pride month.
We recognise the importance of addressing the needs of all our colleagues and making our workplace accessible for all.
Accessibility Network
Our Accessibility Network focuses on supporting colleagues with disabilities and long-term conditions of all kinds, whether a physical, neurodivergent, a mental health condition or long-term illness. It drives forward our commitment to action and works to normalise conversations about disabilities, in order to create an environment of understanding, inclusion and safety where our colleagues can grow and flourish. Notable achievements include training sessions for all colleagues and managers on neurodiversity awareness, and engagement campaigns for UK Disability Pride and History Months.
Disability Confident Scheme
We are a Disability Confident Committed (Level 1) Employer in the Disability Confident Employer Scheme.
Hidden Disability Sunflower
We are proud partners of Hidden Disabilities Sunflower. We encourage the use of sunflower lanyards by colleagues and visitors as a tool to voluntarily share that they have a disability or condition that may not be immediately apparent, and receive additional support as needed.
Mental Wellbeing Network
The Network’s mission is to promote positive mental and emotional wellbeing by creating an empathetic and respectful working environment, underpinned by a network of support for all colleagues. Through education, sharing lived experiences and working with line managers and HR the Network aims to ensure each person feels supported and valued knowing that they can feel safe being themselves in the workplace. Every year, the Network acknowledges World Mental Health Day, Blue Monday, Mental Health Awareness Week and various other dates and initiatives, including through collaboration with our Benefit providers and sessions for managers and colleagues on mental health and stress management.
We are committed to providing opportunities for all, regardless of their background or experience.
UpReach Programme
We have partnered with UpReach to run internship programmes for those from lower socio-economic backgrounds, and offer opportunities to apply for permanent roles at the end.
Social Mobility Network
Our employee-led Social Mobility Network supports the company’s commitment to be an inclusive employer and find, attract, develop and retain people from all socio-economic backgrounds. Notable achievements include a school outreach programme to reshape expectations of careers in financial services, membership of colleagues in the 93% Club and continuous education on imposter syndrome and barriers faced by people from lower socio-economic backgrounds joining or progressing their careers in banking and finance.
Our pledge to the Armed Forces Covenant
As signatories to the Armed Forces Covenant, Close Brothers recognise the contribution that Service personnel, both regular and reservist, veterans and military families make to our organisation, our community and to the country.
In 2024, we were pleased to be awarded the bronze award from the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme (ERS).
Veterans Network
Our Veterans Network's mission is to support the veteran community, showing appreciation for those who have served or are currently serving whilst making positive impact for Close Brothers through a diverse and inclusive culture. The Network leads our annual Remembrance Day event as well as educational activities for those involved in the hiring process. Members of the Network and colleagues fundraise for veterans charities in the UK every year.
Intergenerational Inclusion
Our newest network is the Intergenerational Network. It connects colleagues across multiple age brackets and helps unlock the collective wisdom of generations to drive innovation, success and growth across the organisation.
Partnership story: Close Brothers and Moving Ahead
As Moving Ahead celebrates its 10 year anniversary, we are proud to look back over our eight years of partnership to deliver cross-company mentoring programmes for women and minority groups through the Mission Gender Equity and Mission Include programmes.
Watch our partnership story and hear from colleagues who discuss their time as a mentor or mentee on these programmes.