Strategic report Governance Financial statements Other information CHAIR’S INTRODUCTION TO CORPORATE GOVERNANCE CONTINUED Diversity Stakeholder engagement It is widely accepted that greater diversity within a business drivesbetter business performance and we strongly believe that buildingWe continue to recognise the importance of engaging with andconsidering the interests of our stakeholders in promoting theCOMPLIANCE STATEMENT a diverse and inclusive workforce is good for the Group’s clients, Group’s long-term success. A revised version of the UK Corporate Governance Code its business and its people. We value and appreciate the input of our colleagues and ensure (the Code) was published by the FRC in July 2018, and has You can read more about our approach to building diversity and that we regularly engage with and listen to our colleagues through been applied by the Companyduring the period under review. inclusion across our workforce and the initiatives that support it a series of initiatives including our workforce advisory panel, the HL The Code sets out the standards of good practice in relation on pages 30 to 32 of the Strategic Report. Colleague Forum, regular colleague surveys and a coordinated to how the Company should be governed, and can be found internal communications programme. on the FRC’s website at www.frc.org.uk. The Group’s diversity policy for Board appointments supports the The Board is satisfied that the Company has complied in recommendations of the Hampton-Alexander Review for 33% We spend time nurturing a strong relationship with our full with the provisions of the Code throughout the period female representation on the Board by the end of 2020, and of the shareholders. We regularly meet shareholders on roadshows under review. Parker Review for at least one Director from an ethnic minority and were pleased to welcome a representative of our founder background by the end of 2021. You can read more about the policy shareholder, Adrian Collins, to the Board in November 2020. The Corporate Governance Report provides details of the and the importance we place on diversity in the recruitment of We are conscious of our impact on the wider community and take Company’s corporate governance framework and how it has Non-Executive Directors on page 116 of the Nomination time to ensure that we are considering the environment and giving applied the principles set out in the Code. Committee Report. back to the community we work in. We are proud of our relationship In relation to diversity and following the appointment of Penny with Bristol City Council. James, 40% of our Board will be women and we have at least one Our relationship with the FCA as our regulator is of fundamental Director from an ethnic minority background. importance to us and we maintain an open, constructive dialogue Senior Managers and Certification Regime(SMCR) with them to ensure that we are aware of and meet the standards We support the objectives of SMCR to clarify senior manager that they expect. responsibility and accountability and improve the culture across You can read more about how the Directors have had regard to the the financial services industry. interests of our colleagues and our other key stakeholders within The changes to our governance framework have been made in the context of promoting the success of the Company in our conjunction with, and complement, the implementation of SMCR Section 172 Statement on pages 130 to 133. in our principal operating subsidiaries. The focus of the regime in driving better conduct aligns with our continued work on culture and embedding our values throughout our business including Deanna Oppenheimer through the development of HL Way. You can read more on Chair page 74 of the Corporate Governance Report. 8 August 2021 67 Hargreaves Lansdown Report and Financial Statements 2021