Refinitiv announces the 2021 D&I Index top 100 most Diverse & Inclusive organizations globally

NEW YORK/LONDON, 14 September 2021 – Refinitiv today announced the 2021 Top 100 most diverse and inclusive organizations globally as ranked by the Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) Index. The index ratings are informed by Refinitiv’s Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) data, designed to transparently and objectively measure the relative performance of close to 11,000 companies representing 80%+ of global market cap across 500+ ESG data points, and provide clients with critical and differentiated insight. 

Industries leading this year’s D&I Index Top 100 are banking, investment services & insurance firms with a total of 13, followed by pharmaceuticals with 9, specialty retailers 8 and telecommunications services,   personal & household products & services with 7 respectively.  United States leads the Top 100 list with 25 firms followed by the United Kingdom with 9, Australia, Italy and Germany 6, Canada, France, and South Africa 5.  

The D&I Index is available on Refinitiv Workspace and Eikon, as are the underlying diversity and inclusion metrics, which are used by financial professionals to evaluate sustainability related risks and opportunities of companies across their investments, as well as empower diversity-lens investing strategies. The D&I Index utilizes innovative analytics to rate and score companies across 4 main pillars: Diversity, Inclusion, People Development and Controversies. Only companies with scores across all four pillars are assigned an overall score (the average of the pillar scores). The top 100 ranked companies with the best overall D&I scores are selected for the Index.  

“Congratulations to the 2021 D&I Index Top 100 most diverse & inclusive organizations globally. We are proud that our D&I index continues to demonstrate strong performance,” said Debra Walton, Chief Revenue Officer, Data & Analytics, Head of Group Strategic Accounts, London Stock Exchange Group. “Since its launch in 2016 the index has consistently outperformed major market indices, demonstrating a high degree of correlation between company’s financial performance and their leadership in diversity and inclusion.”

The D&I index continues to receive recognition from industry analysts across the globe:  

Sang Lee, Head of Securities & Investments at Aite-Novarica Group, commented: “The growing industry interest in the D&I index reflects the shifting values and investor appetite for environmental, social, and governance related solutions across all sectors of the capital markets. Financial services firms and corporates are quickly becoming wise to the benefits of ESG not only as an investment tool, but as a culturally transformative tool that forges greater employee morale and production efficiencies. The past year has demonstrated that firms that set, disclose, and meet their ESG targets, including diversity and inclusion, are becoming some of the strongest proponents of all ESG related matters. Whereas firms that have not fully embraced these opportunities are finding themselves marred in employee and shareholder activism.”

Will Jan, Vice President & Lead Analyst at Outsell, commented: “The focus on diversity and inclusion continues to garner momentum among firms seeking to invest in sustainable organizations, and companies looking to benchmark their sustainability practices. With major companies already committing to specific D&I targets, those partners and suppliers seeking cultural alignment will likely follow suit. As a result, the hiring ecosystem opens itself up to a larger talent pool, accelerating innovation and business.”

William Trout, Director of Wealth Management at Javelin Strategy & Research, commented: “The expectations of a new generation of investors are reverberating up the asset management value chain. These center on investing to environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria and the digital experience in general. Today’s investors are far more likely to embrace ESG than their parents, from whom they stand to inherit the bulk of consumer wealth. Their motivations and triggers are also distinctive, in that social and corporate governance issues rival the environment in their calculus. Meeting their needs in an engaging and interactive manner constitutes a make-or-break opportunity for the modern wealth manager.”

Diversity and Inclusion in the workforce are core environmental, social and governance (ESG) themes, which financial professionals are more frequently incorporating into their investment strategies and capital allocation decisions.  COVID-19 has shone a light on why diversity is critical for business recovery and resilience. The main theme this past year was survival, as many companies and entire economic

sectors were battered. In addition, issues of racial equity in society moved to the forefront of individual lives and businesses.  At the same time, the business world is realizing that policies of diversity and inclusion (D&I) are more important than ever, part of an increased awareness of environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues on the part of employees, customers, investors and community stakeholders.

“Refinitiv Diversity & Inclusion Index, now in its sixth year, continues to inspire positive changes and improvements on the DEI agenda among customers, companies and communities worldwide,” said Elena Philipova, Director, Sustainable Finance at Refinitiv, an LSEG business. “The diversity and inclusion agenda has been elevated this year and we see particular acceleration in focus from the investment community. However, data shows us progress in some areas, and stalling in others, but what is clear is that the only way to change is through data.”

Refinitiv Diversity & Inclusion report shows progress across cultural board diversity: EMEA leads the way with the most culturally diverse boards. Regionally, Africa is making the most progress with 3 percentage point improvement over 5 years.  Refinitiv analyzed trends in diversity and inclusion data, covering the following areas: trends in diversity and inclusion data reported by public companies over the last five years; long/short portfolio analysis using the Portfolio Analytics app in Refinitiv Eikon®; and the constituents of the Refinitiv 2021 Diversity and Inclusion Index (based on the second quarter 2021 index rebalance).

Key findings of the Refinitiv Diversity and Inclusion report for 2021 include:

• Globally Europe is leading on D&I scores and Diversity scores
• The average D&I company score is 54
• On average, 26% of boards are culturally diverse – with Europe leading the way with 33%
• Board cultural diversity can help with portfolio outperformance
• Disclosure on metrics which allow employees to work in more flexible ways has increased over the last 5 years with disclosure on childcare services and flexible working hours increasing 17% and 69 % respectively

For more information about the Diversity and Inclusion report for 2021, please visit: https://www.refinitiv.com/en/resources/special-report/diversity-and-inclusion-post-covid

The D&I Index, launched in 2016, ranks the top 100 publicly traded companies globally with the most diverse and inclusive workplaces, as measured by 24 metrics across four key categories: Diversity, Inclusion, People Development and News Controversies. The Index is then calculated by weighing each metric based on importance in the market and how each company compares with its peers.

Top 25 Index ranking and their corresponding overall D&I percentage score (%):