Pension firms are among a group of 80 fund management companies to have signed up to offer internships to Black graduates to tackle the under-representation of Black employees in the City.

The group, which includes Willis Towers Watson, Universities Superannuation Scheme, Legal & General and Standard Life Aberdeen, have signed up to the 100 Black Interns scheme, which will offer a minimum of 100 front line investment internships to graduates of black origin in summer 2021.

The programme is designed to address the issue that there are currently believed to be no more than 15 Black portfolio managers in the UK investment management industry.

The initiative was led by Capstone Investment Advisors president, Jonathan Sorrell, Redington and Mallowstreet co-founder, Dawid Konotey-Ahulu, Barrington Hibbert Associate founder and managing partner, Michael Barrington-Hibbert, and Livingbridge managing partner, Wol Kolade.

Dawid Konotey-Ahulu said: “In over two decades in the City, I have rarely come across anyone who looks like me. It is so powerful that the investment management industry has agreed to help welcome more Black talent into our industry.

“We hope other professions will follow suit and have an impact on the representation of Black talent in their own industries.”

Sorrell commented: “We felt we wanted to do something really tangible to build a bench of compelling Black talent in our industry for the long-term. By providing such a special entry point into portfolio management, we hope to attract great Black students to a career path they may not have otherwise contemplated.”

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