BlackRock tops Refinitiv’s top 100 most diverse firms

Financial services scored surprisingly well in the Index but still have lower than average cultural diversity on boards

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Natalie Kenway

Refinitiv has revealed the top 100 most diverse and inclusive companies across the world, with BlackRock, Royal Bank od Canada and Allianz SE all making the top 10.

In the Refinitiv Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) Index, which uses ESG data points to scan 10,000 business, BlackRock ranked first with a score of 81%. The US leads the top 100 list in terms of countries with 20 firms, followed by the UK with 13, Australia with nine, and Canada and France with seven.

See also: – Diversity Project sets 50% female fund managers target

Refinitiv said the D&I Index utilizes innovative analytics to rate and score companies across four main pillars: Diversity, Inclusion, People Development and Controversies. Only companies with scores across all four pillars are assigned an overall score (the average of the pillar scores). The top 100 ranked companies with the best overall D&I scores are selected for the Index.   

The top 10 is below but the full list can be viewed on Refinitiv platforms Workspace and Eikon

Top 10 Index Ranking

RankingCompanyOverall Score (%)
1BlackRock81
2Natura & Co Holding80.25
3Accenture80
4Royal Bank of Canada79
5Industria de Diseno Textil78.5
6L’Oreal78
7Allianz SE77.75
8Telecom Italia77.75
9Novartis77.5
10Bank of Nova Scotia77.25
Source: Refinitiv Diversity & Inclusion Index

The D&I Index also revealed D&I leads the way with the most culturally and gender diverse boards, and surprisingly banking, investment services & insurance firms were among the top sectors, followed by pharmaceuticals and telecommunications services.

European companies had the highest proportion of women on the board, followed by Africa, Oceania and US, but Refinitiv noted there is slow progress when it comes to female managers in the business – Africa leads the way here with on average 34% of female managers.

Even though the cultural diversity of boards has increased from five years ago, Refinitiv reported it has stalled at around 30%, and financial services had a lower than average score for culturally diverse boards with 28%. At a country level, Switzerland has been leading the way with 60%, compared to 31.2% in the UK and 15.7% in the US.

Debra Walton, chief revenue officer at Refinitiv, commented: “Congratulations to the 2020 D&I Index Top 100 most diverse & inclusive organizations globally.

“The global pandemic has certainly brought to light a renewed focus on diversity and inclusion, reinforcing the reality that we are all in this together.”

Elena Philipova, global head of ESG at Refinitiv, added: “Our Diversity and Inclusion Index, now in its fifth year, emphasizes the critical importance for companies to commit to, measure and report on their diversity journey beyond gender. Sustainable and resilient workforce is the fuel for businesses especially during volatile times.”