At the close of last year, 89% of companies in the FTSE 100 index had at least one director from a minority ethnic group on their boards, according to new data from the Parker Review committee.
The goal for the top 100 UK businesses to achieve board diversity was set by the group back in 2017 when only 51% had minority ethnic representation.
Since the survey, an additional five FTSE 100 companies have made new appointments to their boards, while three have also committed to the target and are at advanced stages in recruitment processes.
Of the three companies yet to commit to this target, one is being acquired by a US group and will de-list, another is a Russian steel and mining company which will shortly be removed from the FTSE 100 index and the final one is a UK subsidiary of a US-based group, the report said.
A separate goal was set for FTSE 250 businesses to have some ethnic diversity at the executive level by 2024 of which 128 have already achieved this.
Kwasi Kwarteng MP, secretary of state for business, energy & industrial strategy, said: “While there is still more to do, today’s findings demonstrate the great strides being made – particularly at FTSE 100 level.”
While diversity is now more present in UK business leadership, there are only six ethnic minority chief executives in the FTSE 100 and 16 in the FTSE 250, leading some to encourage companies to push past the minimum target.
David Tyler, co-chairman of the Parker Review committee, said: “Companies should not think of the Parker Review targets as ‘one and done’. We hope companies will follow the most diverse of their peer group and expand the scale and depth of initiatives fostering inclusion and diversity right through organisations to help develop the next generation of talent.”
Diversity will be a leading decision maker for shareholders in the upcoming annual general meeting (AGM) season according to Andrew Ninian, director of stewardship and corporate governance at the Investment Association.
The importance of these issues to investors can already be seen, with shareholders in Salesforce applying pressure on the company to improve diversity after two ethnic minority employees resigned over a lack of equality in the workplace.
In a proposition to the company, investors requested that 50% of the workforce should consist of minority groups by the end of the year.