Diversity and Inclusion
Since 2019, we have funded a bursary to support the professional education of a woman listed within the Womani 300 List. Womani 300 is an independent initiative to create and elevate awareness of the roles and impact of women working within the global Islamic financial sector. The DDCAP Bursary facilitates an individual’s participation at the annual Cambridge Islamic Finance Leadership Programme organised by Cambridge IFA and hosted at Clare College, Cambridge.
In June 2020, HM Treasury published an updated list of Women in Finance Charter signatories on gov.uk amongst which DDGI was proud to be included as a recent signatory. The Charter was introduced by HM Treasury in March 2016 to ensure signatory organisations can work together to help build greater gender balance in financial services, reflecting the UK government’s aspiration to see greater gender balance throughout the industry.
DDGI’s targets within the Charter include achieving (or exceeding) having at least 50% women in senior roles.
Natalie Morse, Executive Director and Joint Company Secretary, has been appointed as the Senior Management Team member responsible for DDGI’s diversity and inclusion work.
Remuneration for members of our senior executive team is determined against financial and non-financial objectives, which are set annually through the Group’s formal Appraisal and Interim Review processes. The non-financial objectives will include a commitment to increasing the diversity of our workforce.
Stella Cox CBE, Managing Director commented that: “DDGI’s admittance as a signatory to Women in Finance Charter is an exciting and welcome development for the DDCAP Group. As a female executive mandated for more than 20 years to lead a financial services business it will be no surprise that a focus on diversity and inclusion has been at the heart of our organisation for a very long time. However we must not be complacent and, having established our internal policies, commitments and ambitions, our signatory status now affords us an unprecedented and privileged opportunity to collaborate with other financial sector firms who share our values so as to accelerate our endeavours and make public disclosure of our intentions, setting targets that will continue to challenge us as we progress.”
2025 annual review of DDGI’s targets:
The Company continues to make good progress with improving female representation with 50% of our Associate Director and Management positions currently being held by women. However, DDGI Limited has yet to reach its target of achieving at least 50% of women in senior roles (with the appointment of Associate Director and Director being our current definition of ‘senior management’).
We are proactively supporting the development of more senior career pathways for those currently at Manager level, elevating their skill sets, where possible, through external training opportunities to prepare them for opportunities for promotion to Associate Director. As a responsible employer we are very cognisant of the accountability that such elevation brings, and we continue to take great care to maintain our awareness of individual perspectives on career progression and elevation.
Our business strategy remains unchanged, and we aim to manage our client relationships through our local representative offices rather than from London, increasing our profile as a national employer and supporting the reduction of our carbon footprint in accordance with associated targets that we endeavour to comply with. As we progress with the growth of our regional presence, we will look to expand our WIFC reporting scope for this purpose.
In addition to the progress made within our infrastructure internally, we are immensely proud that we continue to sponsor the DDCAP Group™ Bursary, which is amongst several strategic partnership initiatives that DDCAP shares with Cambridge IFA in support of Gender Equality, enabling us to champion the empowerment of female leadership within the Islamic finance sector. This bursary is awarded annually to two of the many, exceptional women working within Islamic finance, and included in the WOMANi Annual List, to support their participation at the Cambridge IFA Leadership Programme.
2024 annual review of DDGI’s targets:
As at 30th September 2024, DDGI has 17 employees within Associate Director and Management positions, with 53% being women. Within our management cascade alone, 58% are women and we have further female representation elevation within our Client Services and Corporate Governance pillar as well as our Marketing and Communications remit.
The Company is making good progress with improving female representation at our most senior executive level and across the broader geographical footprint of our Group, having recruited a female Business Development Director in Dubai in September 2024. DDGI Limited has yet to reach its target of achieving at least 50% of women in senior roles.
Female representation has further increased in 5 out of 10 of our Group Risk Committees and Working Groups in 2024, all of which continues to demonstrate a positive trend, and progression availed in the coming 12 months.
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