Lloyds Banking Group has set a public target to increase the number of black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) staff among its senior management.
The bank wants to increase the representation of BAME people to 8 per cent of senior management and 10 per cent of the total workforce by 2020.
Currently only 5.6 per cent of its senior management and 8.3 per cent of its total workforce are BAME, compared to 12 per cent of the UK labour force as a whole.
Lloyds says 10 per cent of its customers are from a BAME background and it wants to better reflect the customer base it serves.
Fiona Cannon, director of responsible business and inclusion at Lloyds, said: "What gets measured gets done and we are confident we can meet our diversity goals with the right focus and determination.
"We recognise that companies with diverse management teams perform better and have made a public commitment to create a truly inclusive workforce. It is our ambition to better reflect the customers and communities which we serve.
"Our data shows that, while we are making good progress, we think this rate of progress is too slow, so we are committing to bring change sooner. We want to put into place the right building blocks that will enable us to build our diverse talent pipeline and deliver on our commitment to Help Britain Prosper."
The bank claims the target is the first of its kind to be set by a FTSE 100 company. It said it has already made progress in improving racial and cultural diversity within its workforce, pointing to career development and leadership programmes for BAME staff, and the fact it publishes an annual list of ‘ethnicity role models’.
Lloyds is not the only City institution thinking about how to improve diversity. The Bank of England has come under fire from MPs concerned about its lack of gender and ethnic diversity. Its nine-member Monetary Policy Committee is all white, and has only one female member.
