Our Mission on D&I

We are the leading professional body for the global regulatory and financial crime compliance community.

We aim to inspire, educate and enable the international compliance community to think more, perform better and help the right business to be conducted in the right way.

As a global organisation, we understand that diversity and inclusion is different around the world - the challenges faced by different groups vary significantly.

We believe that the compliance community is strengthened by being diverse; bringing together many different backgrounds, cultures and expertise and allowing a broad range of perspectives that represent the communities we serve. We are proud to celebrate the diversity in compliance.

We also understand that we don’t have all the answers and there is still more to do. We know there are issues that are too big to be tackled by the compliance community alone.

However, we understand the importance of each and every one of us as citizens to do our part to foster an environment of inclusion. That is why we stand #ComplianceAsOne.

White paper: Advancing diversity and inclusion in the compliance world

In September 2020 we surveyed 300 members in the compliance field to determine how compliance is advancing diversity and inclusion efforts and what challenges still exist to implementing an inclusive D&I programme.

Compliance practitioners from various industries discussed the results from ‘Diversity and Inclusion in the Compliance World’ and offered a glimpse into D&I practices and policies within their own companies. They also examined key takeaways, such as:

38% of respondents said they’d experienced some kind of discrimination in the workplace, which the experts said was high but not surprising due to such factors as ‘unconscious bias’ and issues with quantifying D&I.
36% of respondents said compliance regulations do not do enough to address D&I, and 48% said more could be done – a responsibility, noted the experts, of the HR function and compliance to hold each other accountable.
Exactly half of those polled said their company is fully committed to D&I… but 37% said more should be done and 13% said D&I hasn’t been adequately addressed at all. Based on their own experiences, the compliance professionals offered tips on enhancing those efforts.

View the white paper here for more insights and full survey results.

Building awareness about diversity and inclusion

Sometimes the first step towards building awareness about diversity and inclusion at the workplace is by simply starting a conversation, but this can be easier said than done.

Fear of repercussions, lack of confidence in one’s own knowledge on the subject as well as lack of awareness about the importance of such discussions are just a few in a series of obstacles that stand in the way of having an honest conversation about D&I.

Tamara Kahn, Executive Director, ICA, discusses some of these challenges and more with Ashley Robinson, CDD Team Manager, HSBC UK, and learns about his personal experience in this space.

Advancing D&I in the financial services industry

Workforce Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) is proven to have a positive impact on a company’s performance, bottom line and innovation. As one study¹ suggests, firms that have more diverse management teams have 19% higher revenue due to innovation. Compliance is no exception and is only strengthened by D&I.

In this interview, ICA's Slavka Atanasova and Julie Visawadia, Center Head Middle Office, Birmingham, HSBC UK, discuss the challenges and opportunities in advancing D&I in the financial services industry.

[1] Anna Powers, 'A Study Finds That Diverse Companies Produce 19% More Revenue', Forbes, 27 Jun 2018 - Last accessed 18 August 2020

Breaking barriers: The state of workplace diversity

Conduct, culture, diversity and inclusion are interlinked issues within financial services. As a result, regulators have been sharpening their focus on non-financial misconduct and the cultural factors that enable it.

To discuss these themes and more, ICA's Shannon Purchase speaks to Julia Godino, Head of Remediation, Middle Office, HSBC UK, about the diversity and inclusion challenges at the workplace today and the steps that can be taken to overcome them.

This interview forms part of ICA's Diversity and Inclusion mini series.

The role of D&I in compliance

"The benefits of a diverse and inclusive workforce is becoming more evident in boardrooms today, and no longer viewed as simply a tick-box exercise. When employees are represented and included, they feel valued, respected, and more likely to perform well and ethically.

The compliance function has a vital role in ensuring employees are treated fairly and equitably, and must be robust in challenging the C-suite’s commitment and HR’s design and implementation of diversity and inclusion strategies.

It will ensure the company is reaching its full business potential through the unique characteristics of each employee. Workplace inclusivity is complex, essential, and more than protected characteristics: cognitive diversity and neurodiversity build innovative and agile organizations, representative of and beneficial to society at large."

- Deborah O'Connor, Leadership, Management and HR Tutor

Addressing the challenges

ICA member Paul Asare-Archer explores some of the key challenges affecting compliance and financial crime prevention professionals currently; whose responsibility D&I is and why; and the importance of building a community of compliance professionals which creates a safe space for sharing and learning.

Paul was a finalist at the Black British Awards in 2017 and was recognised by the Financial Times in 2019 as one of the UK’s Top 100 BAME Leaders. In 2020, he was named as Employee of the Year by the Black Tech Achievement Awards.

This interview forms part of ICA's mini series about diversity and inclusion in the compliance world.

Learn more about diversity and inclusion

Ask a CCO: Advice from women leaders in compliance

In celebration of International Women’s Day, Compliance Week caught up with a handful female chief compliance officers (CCOs)

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In their words: Celebrating women in compliance on International Women’s Day

What better day than March 8, International Women’s Day, to celebrate women in compliance?

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The role of HR in driving diversity and inclusion

What is the role of the HR function in driving D&I, and the importance of compliance management in overseeing changes in organisational behaviour and practices?

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Nasdaq to SEC: Adopt listing rules requiring board diversity disclosures

Nasdaq has filed a proposal with the Securities and Exchange Commission to adopt new listing rules that would impose board diversity disclosure requirements.

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Emerging state board diversity laws encourage proactive approach

As more states enact statutes that directly address diversity in the boardroom, corporate boards that have not already done so would be wise to begin strategizing their diversity efforts now.

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What compliance can do to advance diversity and inclusion efforts

Experts offer best practices on how to ensure your D&I policies, training, and resources are sufficient at this social and cultural inflection point.

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Ask a CCO: Compliance’s role in D&I efforts

We asked nine prominent chief compliance officers what they can do or are doing to create a more progressive workplace.

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Time for action

Businesses can no longer pay lip service to issues of culture, equality, diversity and inclusion, writes Neta Meidav (inCOMPLIANCE September cover story)

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