Inclusion at HSBC Asset Management

We want to be a role model in the industry by ensuring our workforce represents the communities that we serve.

As part of the HSBC Group, we signed up to join the 30 per cent Club in 2018 (to reach 30 per cent women in senior leadership roles by 2020), and we achieved 30.3 per cent in 2020. We have extended our aspirational target for women in senior leadership to achieve 35 per cent by 2025.

HSBC AM is also a signatory to the industry-wide 30 by 30 initiative by 30 per cent Club UK’s Investor Group (30 per cent of female PMs by 2030). We have several levers, programs and a strong culture of diversity and inclusion that have led to steady progress and a 22 per cent female PMs in our traditional asset classes, as of September 2023. We are therefore confident that we will reach and exceed the 30 per cent target well ahead of 2030.

We joined the 30 per cent Club Hong Kong Investor Group in 2022, pledging to support the targets to achieve 25 per cent female representation on boards of listed companies by 2025, and 30 per cent within six years (by 2028).

Some new and ongoing initiatives by the company in 2023-24 include:

• AFL (Accelerated Female Leaders programme): The programme runs annually and aims to improve representation of females at senior levels by strengthening the leadership pipeline. The focus is on increasing the visibility of high performing females, sponsorship and networking, whilst driving their engagement and enhancing their leadership capability
• Diversity Project – DP Pathway: Industry initiative to train female colleagues from functions outside of investments who want to become portfolio managers; 4 female candidates were selected in 2023
• Global Mentoring programme: This programme is employee-led and adds value by pairing mentors and mentees based on their individual needs and skills. The programme includes training, workshops and networking opportunities to make the most of our global mentor-mentee community and learn from others. In 2023, a total of 154 colleagues had registered as mentors and mentees, 74 of them women. This resulted in the formation of 98 mentor/mentee pairs
• Succession Planning for Roles: Carried out annually for appropriate identification and succession planning of Business-Critical Roles
• Programme in HK in partnership with ‘Inspiring Girls’: Thinking about the next generation, in HK, we are sponsoring ‘Inspiring Girls’ charity with an aim to raise the aspirations of school-aged girls (15-17 years age) and paving the way for future generations of women to take their place in the world of asset management and finance. In 2023, we had mentorship sessions, work experience day and a ‘role model townhall’, and engaged with 50+ school-aged girls and 100+ professional female role models in the financial industry
• CFA Institute in India: This India-first initiative gives opportunities to female candidates from underprivileged backgrounds; we started with 4 interns in 2021, 10 interns joined us in 2022 and took in 14 interns in 2023
• Supported ‘JumpStart’ event in Hong Kong with ‘100 Women in Finance’ to provide mentorship access and information on various sectors of financial industry for university female students. Engaged with c.100 college-age students from 6 universities in Hong Kong
• Mothers’ Day 2023 financial literacy initiative: HSBC Mutual Fund (India) organised an event, ‘The Independent Indian Mother’, to create awareness of financial literacy among mothers and women entrepreneurs and to encourage financial planning. The virtual event had a participation of 442 and a total reach of 303,471 via social media
• We partnered with Black Women in Asset Management and sponsored the ‘40 under 40 awards’ 2023
• Launched global communications ‘All-employee toolkit’ on ‘World Menopause Day’ to remove barriers, promote inclusivity across genders and support female colleagues in adapting to different lifecycle symptoms and receiving guidance on self-care

We also aim to build more diverse investment committees to ensure that our female managers have as many opportunities to influence the decision-making process within our investment committees.

We are also committed to understanding the interplay, or intersectionality, between the areas such a gender, race, ability, sexual orientation and identity, mental health, social mobility and religion. We continue to work with external experts to learn more about how our colleagues who fall into more than one underrepresented group experience our working environment and what we can do to provide an inclusive culture that allows all colleagues to thrive.

We received the following awards for gender diversity and inclusion in 2023:

• Won the Judges’ Choice Award at Citywire Gender Diversity Awards 2023
• ‘Highly Commended’ for Championing Gender Inclusivity at FT Adviser Diversity in Finance Awards 2023

We want to be a role model in the industry by ensuring our workforce represents the communities that we serve. We also want to better understand the lived experiences, feelings of belonging, and barriers to career progression of employees who identify themselves as ethnic minorities.

Listening sessions, via an external consultancy, were conducted across our global employee base in 2021. We have used the feedback from the listening sessions to build a framework and action-plan for our initiatives. The core pillars of our strategy are:

• Psychological safety and inclusion
• Career development
• Internal talent mapping, retention; and
• External hiring

We are enhancing our data to support an evidence-based approach to driving change, especially around our minorities balance commitments and senior leadership representation. A self-identification campaign was run throughout 2022-23 in countries where we are legally and culturally able to collect this information voluntarily from employees. In the UK, 73.14 per cent of employees have disclosed their ethnicity as of Q3 2023, of which 31 per cent are of a racial and ethnic minority background.

We are committed to the Diversity Project’s 90 per cent race and ethnicity diversity data disclosure goal by 2024.

We have an internal KPI in place to increase the percentage of ethnic minorities, including Black Heritage colleagues, in our workforce. We are aiming to increase percentage of black heritage colleagues and also target 1-2 to increase their GCB per year.

Our organisation has taken the following actions in 2023 to improve race and ethnicity DE&I, and will continue to add to these and evolve them further in 2024:

• In 2023, we partnered with Black Women in Asset Management (BWAM) and sponsored the ‘BWAM 40Under40 Awards’, including an award category in ESG
• We participated in the annual survey of Change the Race Ratio (CtRR)
• We conducted an Ethnicity Story Sharing Event – 25 colleagues signed up to participate making for 12 successful conversations
• Role modelling and advocacy from the Executive Committee, allies in the organisation, and from black and ethnic minority talent
• Engagement with the Diversity Project’s Race & Ethnicity Workstream, 10000 Black Interns programme, and with the #TalkAboutBlack initiative
• Exploring the Ethnicity Pay Gap within the organisation
• Signed up to the Race at Work Charter
• Deliberate and structured career planning of black and ethnic talent
• Ensuring that all acts of racism are dealt with seriously and action has been taken
• Ensuring that safe channels have been created where black and ethnically diverse talent can raise unfair treatment

We are taking action to improve opportunities for black and ethnic minority employees through the Accelerating into Leadership programme. We are a signatory to the 10,000 Black Interns initiative (https://www.10000blackinterns.com/) and hired our first summer intern from this programme in 2022, who has since been successfully admitted on to the Graduate programme. In 2023, we hired one Intern in AM Alternatives from the 10,000 Black Interns pipeline.

Awards
In Women in Investments Awards 2023, we were finalists in ‘Investment Industry Initiative of the Year’ for our Ethnicity Initiative.

Social mobility is an area that is often overlooked as it may not be easily identified. Widening participation is a key focus for HSBC Asset Management, our Social Mobility workstream has educated all of us in how giving a chance to an individual could lead to a cohort of loyal and effective employees. Our aim is to bring in fresh perspectives and diversity of thought into our firm and disrupt any “group think” we may be having. We believe that “Talent is everywhere, but opportunities are not".

Our Social Mobility programme undertakes initiatives under three strands:

1. Degree Apprenticeships (DA)
   In 2023, we hired seven degree apprentices (up from four in 2022) for our DA programme. In 2024, we plan to run a social media Campaign on the DA program to further popularize it.


2. Work Experience (WP)
   In August 2023, HSBC Early Careers Team and HSBC AM hosted a Work Experience programme in London that saw participation of ~130 students (up from 55 students in 2022). The WP programme offers an opportunity to young students in later years of full-time secondary education, sixth form or college from social mobility and diverse backgrounds to gain an insight into Asset Management and the wider financial services industry. The programme has been set up with the idea to help these students to gain an insight into a professional environment, understand the different roles and functions across HSBC, and improve their personal and employability skills. We will planning similar events during the course of 2024.
   
   We also worked with the Diversity Project’s UpReach initiative to provide work experience to university students in the UK from social mobility and diverse backgrounds. The three-day experience was held virtually with talks from speakers across the business and candidates were tasked with presenting a mock multi-Asset portfolio to a panel of multi-Asset PMs.


3. External Relations (ER)
   We are working with a broad range of social mobility charities, schools and higher education authorities with focus to mentor young talent that is underachieving due to socio economic circumstances. We have continued our association with 10,000 Black Interns and in 2023 hired an intern in our Alternatives business.

Despite 80 per cent of people acquiring a disability while in employment, the majority hide in plain sight. Only 6.3 per cent of them, according to Business Disability Forum, self declares as disabled. Without being aware, we may disregard the needs of our colleagues and make their contribution more difficult. Our goal is to highlight the importance of mainstreaming disability issues and encourage open dialogue about what it is to be different and how departments in Asset Management can support each team member’s needs. We are committed to the UK Government’s Disability Confidence (DC) scheme, of which the bank is classed as a Grade 3 - “Leader” and ensure regular training for new employees is implemented.

In 2023, we conducted ‘The inclusive workplace for people of all abilities’ – a series of listening sessions and one-on-one interviews. The aim was to better understand our colleagues with disability and to gather insights from them (and their line managers) on how we can further improve our workplace to be more inclusive.

We also published a variety of posts on social media and in our internal newsletters around Disability and Neurodiversity. We commemorated the International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDOPWD) and International Day of the Deaf and published posts on LinkedIn on hints and tips for managing this in the workplace.

These initiatives help not only ensure a strong culture of disability inclusion in HSBC Asset Management, and in the wider HSBC, but also in the Investment Industry in a meaningful way.

Rory Muldowney talks about Dyslexia

What is your disability?

Dyslexia.

How long have you known about your disability?

I was diagnosed with the condition at the age of three.

Did you receive adjustments when you were in education?

Fortunately, my condition was spotted early, so I attended a specialist Dyslexic school between the ages of six to nine. Here, I learned coping mechanisms to effectively deal with my condition, enabling me to perform to my true potential in an academic and professional setting. I am now fortunate enough to not require any adjustments in the workplace. Nonetheless, having access to 25% extra time in exams has been an indispensable adjustment in higher education and professional exams.

Would you say your disability impacted your accessibility to higher education?

I am lucky in that I never felt barred from higher education due to my condition. However, throughout my education I perceived “being dyslexic” led to others labelling me as unable to attend the best institutions or do academically challenging subjects.

What are the greatest positives of your disability?

For context, dyslexia simply refers to an individual’s brain being “wired” differently. Illustrated by the physical manifestation of my condition: I am right-handed and left-footed!

Nonetheless, I believe my condition has benefited me in three significant ways:

1. Diversity of thought: The condition leaves me unable to think like a neurotypical person, forcing me to approach problems and situations from a unique perspective. Leading to distinct outcomes and conclusions from my peers. A skill I aim to effectively leverage as an investment analyst.
2. Work ethic: The effects of dyslexia on my short-term memory and processing speeds forced me to work harder, and for longer, throughout my academic life to “level the playing field”. Leading to me building an industrious work ethic, that in the long run, helps me outperform.
3. Resilience: Dyslexia made primary and secondary education arduous. Yet, that hardship is now of incredible value, as it pushed me to build an “anti-fragile” approach to challenges. An approach where you improve from shocks and adversity, versus being weakened by them. A useful trait for working in financial markets!

Do you think society's attitude to dyslexia is changing?

Definitely.

The promotion of neuro-divergent thinking as an asset, as well as multiple high-profile individuals coming forward as dyslexic, has undoubtedly improved society’s view of the condition. A personal favourite is Richard Thaler, a founding father of behavioural economics and Nobel Prize recipient.

The workstream exists to facilitate the efforts by HSBC Asset Management to support the mental health and wellness of our colleagues. To that end, there has been increased senior leadership communication related to mental health related topics, including the need for adequate time off, increased flexibility around deadlines, ways of working and expectations around deliverables. Our Employee Assistance Programmes are available in all our locations as part of our benefits, and since 2022, our employees have free access to the Headspace application, with an aim to help build resilience through meditation.

The workstream publishes a monthly “Wellness Wednesday” newsletter to promote topics and awareness related to mental health and provide contact points for help and support on a global basis. We also have relevant trainings around mental health on HSBC University for every employee to access.

In 2022, we launched our Global Mental Health Ambassadors initiative, which included 13 colleagues who had volunteered to be ambassadors from across the world and make themselves available to colleagues who wish to reach out. This initiative aims to help remove the stigma around mental health and encourage all to speak up and seek timely support.

In 2023, we expanded our Mental Health Ambassador Initiative and now have 16 Mental Health Ambassadors across different geographies. Our new ambassadors underwent a three-hour training in mental health conducted by City Mental Health Alliance (CMHA) as well as the training available on HSBC University.

Key achievements: 2023

• The workstream produced a short video to demonstrate the mental health journeys of colleagues to coincide with the Mental Health Awareness Week in May 2023. The video was posted on LinkedIn and shared internally to AM colleagues and was very well received
• We also contributed to the Diversity Project’s Mental Health Report to highlight how companies are driving change with regards to mental health and wellbeing
• We hosted the annual mental health webinars for all colleagues, ‘Mind Matters’, in October 2023, where colleagues shared their mental health journeys and coping mechanisms
• We regularly published our monthly publication, ‘Wellness Wednesday’ highlighting a different wellness topic in each edition and sharing resources available within HSBC AM
• We are proud that, for the second year in running, HSBC was ranked 1^st by CCLA in their mental health report in 2023

Our commitment to DE&I and the LGBTQI+ community remains robust as we strive towards building a more inclusive environment within HSBC AM.

As part of our LGBT+ DE&I Strategy, we have two HSBC AM ManCo members who are sponsors of the LGBT+ DE&I initiatives: Xavier Baraton, HSBC AM Global CIO, and Joanna Munro, CEO of HSBC Alternatives.

The LGBTQi+ workstream has two co-chairs who along with the working members work on the following:

• LGBT+ visibility: Active promotion of LGBT+ role models and allies (LinkedIn campaigns, LGBT+ recognitions, events, and internal communications)
• LGBT+ awareness: Promotion of trainings, hosting of internal events, and co-organization of external events with partners like LGBT Great and OutLeadership
• Engagement of leadership: Active engagement of our Top Executives as sponsors and allies
• LGBT+ Lens investing: LGBT+ DE&I workstream have their seat in the RI/ESG DE&I Investment Steering Committee to promote best practices in LGBT+ Lens Investing
• Research and Investment Processes: Collaborate with RI/ESG Investment team to build data and research initiatives to support LGBT+ DE&I integration and implementation within investment processes
• Supporting safe spaces: We use the LGBT+ DE&I workstream as a safe space for LGBT+ colleagues and allies to show up and share openly their feedback and lived experience in the workplace
• External Memberships: We are active members of LGBT Great, OutLeadership and The Diversity Project

Our Group policies are LGBT+ inclusive:

• We are a signatory to the UN standards of conduct for Business (2017) for LGBTQI Inclusion and and have adopted the Five Standards of Conduct for tackling discrimination against lesbian, gay, bi, trans and intersex people
• Our global Pride network – our ERG for lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans employees and allies – supports an inclusive environment free from discrimination, in line with HSBC’s Group Employment Practices and Relations Policy
• Our organisation's employee benefits are fully inclusive of LGBT+ people. We have the following policies in place:
  • No discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity and expression
  • Support for transgender non-binary employees at work
  • Shared maternity, parental and adoption leave policy
  • Gender expression guide
  • Health Insurance cover for same-sex partners

We have fostered a growing network of allies and are actively nurturing the importance of being ‘Out’. We support colleagues by providing opportunities through the OutLeadership / OutNext nomination to connect with emerging leaders to influence, drive change and be heard.

We have partnered with LGBT Great (https://www.lgbtgreat.com/) since 2022 to broaden our strategic focus on specialised training & awareness, grooming mentors and allies, and to leverage industry insights, policies and benchmarks.

Key events and initiatives in 2023

In 2023, we have continued the implementation of our LGBTQ+ DE&I strategy. We were recognised by LGBT Great with iiBT (Inclusion Index Benchmarking Tool) Gold Standard for our best-in-class LGBTQ+ DE&I culture and practice across the financial industry.

Highlights of the initiatives in 2023 are:

• Participated in the LGBT Great Mentoring event in January 2023: ~10 people from HSBC AM enrolled as mentors or mentees in LGBT Great mentoring program
• Kate Hassey joined as panelist in the LGBT Great event “The Power of LGBTQ+ Mentoring” in January
• Held event with LGBT Great about LGBT Lens Investing “Seeing the bigger picture” in March 2023, with Joanna Munro and Xavier Baraton co-hosting it
• Farah Bouzida joined as a panelist in the LGBT Great webinar “Women supporting LGBTQ+ women” in April and the HSBC Inclusive Europe LGBTQ+ event in May
• Celebrated the Pride Month in June across various offices including France, UK, India, Hong Kong and Germany
• Participated in Out Leadership ESG Return to Equality Summit in October
• Official sponsor of Hong Kong Gay Games in November
• HSBC AM became signatory of LGBT Great Charter 2023
• HSBC AM FR, as part of HSBC Continental Europe (HBCE), became signatory of L’autre Cercle Charter 2023
• We contributed to FCA and PRA DE&I Consultation through LGBT Great
• LGBT DE&I integration into ESG: initial research work on the integration of LGBT+ DE&I data into investing (Morningstar collaboration and onboarding of Denominator)

Awards and Recognitions

• HSBC AM achieved LGBT Great iiBT Gold Standard in 2023 for best-in-class LGBTQ+ DE&I culture and practices
• Joanna Munro, Stuart White, Xavier Baraton and Ozge Usta were named in the ‘Top 50 Executive Allies’ by LGBT Great in 2023
• Farah Bouzida and Sanjay Paramesh were named in the ‘Top 50 Gamechangers’ by LGBT Great in 2023
• Achieved Gold standard in India Workplace Equality Index 2023
• Kate Hassey was featured in the Financial News in January 2023 sharing her experience about being an LGBTQ+ in the workplace

I am transgender

I think I’ve always known. It was clear I wasn’t like anyone else I knew in some ways. Throughout my life, I was told to push it away. Act normal. Be normal. Drown it. Focus on school. Focus on work. I was told I’d be happier, I’d feel better. Stop, they would say, normal people don’t move that way. I’d dread every day. It’s mentally draining pretending to be someone you aren’t but you get good with practice.

When I was young, my classmates would make sure to let me know when I wasn’t properly observing unwritten gender rules – colours, favourite fictional characters, clothes, and so much more. I learned to fear that part of me. I learned to hate it. Later, I grew up reading stories online from transgender and broad LGBTQ+ experiences. People losing family and dear friends, becoming homeless, or being fired. I absorbed that, we become open to misrepresentation, assumptions, and hate when we come out.

I’ve worked with religious and secular counselors, psychiatrists, doctors for 10 years. We tried different solutions because I wished for other solutions. Because I didn’t wish to face that part of me. I really tried. And finally, I crashed. I had nothing more. I was ready to leave. Someone pulled me back. Years ago, I started medically transitioning. But that story is for another time. I was told to write about my transition but I’m not ready.

Back to basics

The transgender community generally includes transgender men, transgender women, and non binary people. Transgender men (“transmen”) are those who transition to men, vice versa for transgender women (“transwomen”), and non binary people (N-b or “enby”) are those who prefer not to be identified with either gender.

To date, only Canada has attempted to include transgender people in official national censuses. There, in 2021, transgender people made up approximately 0.3% of the 15+ population. Representative survey based data from Belgium and New Zealand have shown similar statistics1 but it is possible that these figures understate reality. Some people choose not to come out and others can blend in so – sometimes – they prefer not to call themselves transgender. The 2021 Canadian census also found that amongst transgender individuals, 28% were transgender men, 31% were transgender women, and 41% were non binary. I feel this is important to highlight because I perceive media tends to focus on journeys and challenges relating to only one group.

Since our population is small, I don’t expect most people to understand. Even with more common issues, it’s hard to fully convey how something feels. Can left handed people explain to right handed people why they prefer their dominant hand? Understanding requires trust and empathy. Not everyone can give this right now. But not understanding something doesn’t necessarily mean it doesn’t exist.

Now that you know some basics, I will move on to try to express how I feel through rough analogies.

I am an immigrant

By birth, I gained citizenship of one country. When my parents were in their 30’s, they decided to immigrate. Through legal processes, I transitioned to being a citizen of another country. Where I live, people refer to themselves as one group in day to day situations as well as on most government forms, regardless of what their skin colour is or what their genes say. This was not always so, however. If I go back 100 years, there were at least two developed world countries that created laws against people of my racial background from immigrating legally. Back then, some would have been disgusted at how my parents and I can call ourselves citizens of my adoptive country today. Some leaders of that era saw people of my racial background as menaces to society. Some may not even have seen us as human. Essentially, back then, what I was at birth would’ve stopped us from immigrating – which is just another form of transitioning.

Now, no analogies are perfect. Biology is often raised when transgender transitions are discussed. I’m not a biologist. But I live in my society. Today, in my country, when adoptive parents give their gift of love and new life to their children, they become parents. In census data for countries of my region, they are grouped as parents. At school, they’re not challenged as non parents. Even between adoptive families and their medical providers, outside of exceptional circumstances, adoptive parents are parents.

I cannot say definitively but this is likely what “transmen are men, transwomen are women” was trying to express. I am not entirely comfortable with that phrase. I personally feel there are some exceptional circumstances. But I that underlying sentiment resonates with me. There is room in society to accept transgender people. But I know it’s going to take time for acceptance. I don’t know how long nor what compromises need to be made though. I don’t have every answer about being transgender.

As I wrote above, my journey has almost been 10 years now. But I have chosen invisibility during past and present Days of Transgender Visibility. It’s tiring enough to transition. As much as it’s important to be visible, I’ve also seen other transgender people in our industry burn out and speak at too many events when they come out.

Just as with every minority experience, standing out and coming out means people may re assess my character. They may forget every kind gesture, support, or help I’ve given before. They may assume my opinions on unrelated issues just because I am transgender. I may actually have no well formed opinion on some transgender related matters. I don’t claim that I know everything about my adoptive or birth country. Why does being transgender have to be any different?

Being transgender is part of who I am

Being an immigrant is part of who I am. Working in HSBC Asset Management is part of who I am. They are facets of who I am but no single dimension should define me. Just as it should be with any other person and in any society. Ideal, I know…. Acceptance of diversity will take lots of time and work. I just wish to be me.

I am not just transgender.

The Working Parents Group creates a network to provide resources and support to address the priorities of ‘working parents’ and ‘carers’ of every parenting situation and at each stage of their journey. We work together with senior leaders to engage and influence HSBC policy and culture from the top down, offering guidance and education to address different biases that impact our colleagues.

We have surveyed in Q2 2023 new parents who have been through the journey at HSBC for Parental Leave to ascertain what HSBC do well during the huge transition for new parents and what they could do better.

Parental Transition Coaching: Since 2021, we have offered Parental Transition Coaching benefit for all employees. Expectant and new parents can take part in a parental transition coaching programme, aiming to help colleagues manage their career alongside a happy home life. It consists of online resources, workshops and individually tailored 1:1 coaching with external coaches. People managers, with team members who are taking parental leave, can attend a workshop for managers too. In 2022, Parental Transition Coaching has had an uptake of c56 people across the group with Asset Management being a part of this.

Parental Leave: We have sought to support and encourage the taking of paternity leave amongst our male employees. In 2023, 11 women in HSBC AM took maternity leave and 24 men took parental leave. From 2024, we have enhanced the parental leave for men from 2 weeks to 4 weeks.

On Global Day of Parents, we also supported the #LeaveLoudly campaign, but from a parent’s perspective. At the time of year where there are sports days / school plays, we wanted to encourage parents to get to these events and tell their teams without any feelings of guilt that they are away from their desks.

The Multi-Faith workstream was established to promote freedom of thought, conscience and religion across HSBC Asset Management. Our key objective is to share knowledge about the importance and benefits of multi-faith workplace where people of different beliefs and backgrounds can work together in harmony and respect, fostering a culture of inclusion that benefits everyone. Our initiatives include promotion of religious festivals to improve multi-faith understanding and also knowledge sharing from wider HSBC Group as well as from industry.

In 2023, the multi-faith workstream has provided thought leadership content for our internal newsletter on a wide range of topics and gave a platform for AM colleagues to understand and discuss wider topics influencing our well-being and inner peace.

The Veterans workstream of AM DE&I was created in 2022 with the aim of creating a 'best of breed' hiring programme to add exceptional talent from the veteran’s community into suitable roles within HSBC Asset Management, initially within the UK.

We launched our UK Veterans Hiring Programme in 2023 and have hired our first veteran through this scheme. We aim to hire further veterans incrementally on an ongoing basis, directly into open roles across the business.