The 'looking at your shoes' moment: Let's talk about race

The industry's wake-up call to end racism and boost diversity

Black senior members of the asset management industry have urged colleagues and employers to start unpacking the BAME (black, Asian and minority ethnic) acronym, place more emphasis on race equality in their diversity & inclusion policies and to be more active in standing against workplace and societal racism, warning that "every single one of us is either part of the solution or part of the problem".

This comes less than three weeks after the murder of George Floyd, a 46 year-old black man who was murdered by a police officer during an arrest for allegedly using a counterfeit bill. On 28 May, three days after the killing, then-Franklin Templeton executive Amy Cooper threatened to call police after Christian Cooper - unrelated to her - asked her to put her dog on a lead in a wooded area of Central Park, New York, as it was against policy.  On phone footage taken by Christian, Amy then threatened to call the police and "tell them there is an African American man threatening my life"...