London — One after another, the heads of the largest UK banks have made a flurry of public statements in recent weeks, pledging to improve the representation of black men and women among senior management.
One trader wearing white sneakers on casual Friday is told by a senior colleague that he looks like a rapper. Another had to listen to a head trader singing to his team all the lyrics to Kanye West’s, including the N-word. A third says his name is mispronounced even by managers who know him. Bloomberg asked other major US, UK, Swiss and French banks to disclose their number of black employees and how many occupy senior positions. All declined to share the data.
Emeka Njokanma, head of emerging-market local rates trading for Europe and Asia at TD Securities, says that despite graduating with high grades from a top university, he had to send out more applications and took “a significantly longer route to get a job in the city than my white peers”. Certain jobs and promotions seem to be off limits. One banker, who asked not to be named because he still works in finance, said that early in his career when rotating desks he realised the chances of being in client-facing roles such as mergers and acquisitions were slim. There were more middle-office opportunities, where there was little to no interaction with mainly white clients. The banker eventually left the city altogether.
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