In Financial Regulation Matters , we have looked on a few occasions at the issue of gender in relation to the world of business ( here , here , and here ) and to a lesser extent the issue of race ( here ). However, in today’s post we will be examining recent developments coming from the Institute of Directors (IoD) that bring both of these issues sharply into the limelight. After gaining a better understanding of the IoD and what its role is, the two issues will be examined to gain a better understanding of the problem facing the business arena, all for the aim of providing context to the revelations that are making the headlines at the moment. The Institute of Directors was founded in 1903 and, after just three years, was awarded a Royal Charter for the purposes of supporting, representing, and setting standards for business leaders across the country . The Royal Charter was the basis of the IoD establishing and implementing four key ‘principals’ , which include: (Better Direc...

Today’s post reacts to the recently published Parker Review , which is a final report led by Sir John Parker in association with Ernst & Young and Linklaters. The report, entitled A Report into the Ethnic Diversity of UK Boards , aims to shine a light on the issue of representativeness on FTSE Boards, with a specific focus on FTSE 100 Boards, and then prescribe some recommendations which it hopes will have a positive effect in this particular field. So, in this post, we will take a closer look at the Report and assess whether it may achieve its aims and, more importantly, whether its aims are even useful or correctly constructed in the first place. We have looked at this issue of representativeness at Board level before here in Financial Regulation Matters , but mostly from a gender-related viewpoint ( here and here ). However, as the Parker Report states in its preamble: ‘ U.K. Boards have made great progress on gender diversity but we still have much to do when it comes t...