Banker behind report alleging HSBC racism resigns over lack of support

Banker behind report alleging HSBC racism resigns over lack of support

by Joseph Anthony
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The author of a report alleging institutional racism inside HSBC (HSBA.L) has resigned, citing frustration at its response to some of his criticism and a lack of support from white colleagues, two internal emails seen by Reuters show.

Ian Clarke, who was a salesman in the US Global Liquidity and Cash Management division in New York, resigned on Tuesday in an email sent to around 1,000 staff and senior managers in HSBCโ€™s US and British businesses, and seen by Reuters.
HSBCโ€™s newly-appointed global head of inclusion attempted to reassure staff over his exit, the other shows.
HSBC said in response to Clarkeโ€™s resignation that it was committed to improving diversity and inclusion.
โ€œWhen colleagues raise concerns we take them seriously and are looking into the issues raised,โ€ the bank said in a statement issued to Reuters on Friday.
Clarke had sent a 48-page report which he called Project Speak Up to HSBCโ€™s senior management in June. This was launched on his own initiative and aimed at quantifying and combating the alleged discrimination he said he had experienced at the bank and heard about from colleagues.
Compiled over a year and based on Clarkeโ€™s interviews with around 100 staff, it alleged a failure to retain or promote Black and other ethnic minority staff, a lack of such people in senior positions and insufficient policies to address these problems.
HSBC said that it took the report seriously and would implement many of its recommendations.
London-born Clarke, who describes himself as half Jamaican and half white British, said in his resignation letter to Chief Executive Noel Quinn he was pleased with some of the progress.
HSBC has wholly or partly implemented 9 of his 12 recommendations, he said, including creating better support programmes for ethnic minorities and aiming to improve minority representation on key decision-making bodies.
โ€œAnd yet regardless, Iโ€™m aware of not a single white person in our firm of 226,000 who seized the momentum we have created together to come forward and Speak Up themselves for whatโ€™s right,โ€ Clarke said.
Clarke said in his resignation letter he had reported alleged discrimination by several white men whom he declined to name over three years who all remain in their roles, while five Black or darker skinned people had left his team with none added.
That was a microcosm of a failure to improve diversity at HSBC, he said.
Reuters was not able to immediately verify Clarkeโ€™s assertions.
His resignation comes as banks face pressure to deliver on pledges to improve diversity after the murder of George Floyd by a US police officer in 2020 sparked global protests.
โ€œWe are fully committed to an environment where people speak up when they see something which is wrong โ€ฆ If we receive reports of racist or discriminatory behaviour we will take action,โ€ HSBC said.
OVERLOOKED
HSBCโ€™s global head of inclusion Carolanne Minashi emailed the around 1,000 recipients of Clarkeโ€™s resignation letter the following day, to reiterate HSBCโ€™s ambition to โ€˜work at an accelerated paceโ€™ to improve diversity.
โ€œMany of you will know that Ian had been in discussions with me and my team, HR and members of senior leadership over the past months,โ€ Minashi wrote in the email seen by Reuters, which did not address the substance of his allegations.
The bank appreciated his commitment to improving HSBC and wished him the best, she said.
Europeโ€™s biggest bank said in July 2020 it aimed to double the number of Black staff in senior roles by 2025, a goal that Clarkeโ€™s report said did not go far enough given a low base.
Black employees at the bank have said in internal meetings that they have felt overlooked for career opportunities and โ€œuninspired by the lack of senior role modelsโ€, Quinn said in a memo to all staff seen by Reuters in July 2020.
The memo was the result of meetings with Black HSBC staff following the spotlight put on systemic racism in the United States and worldwide following Floydโ€™s murder in May that year.
โ€œWe are committed to achieving that target and I see no need to restate it,โ€ CEO Quinn said on Monday, before Clarke resigned, when asked by Reuters about progress towards the goals.
Among its British staff, 2.4 percent have self-identified as Black, but among senior leaders this falls to 0.9 per cent, HSBC told Reuters in February.
REUTERS

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