- Lloyd’s slave trade ties.
- Apology and actions.
- Criticism and pay gap.
Deeply sorry” has been stated by the city firm Lloyd’s of London regarding its ties to the slave trade.
A “significant role” was attributed to the 335-year-old insurance market in facilitating transatlantic trade, according to an independent report.
Lloyd’s stated that it is dedicated to combating inequality and will allocate £40 million towards assisting affected communities.
Reparations Demands and Criticisms
However, campaign organizations charged Lloyd’s with “reparations washing” and demanded that the company do more.
Following the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who was apprehended by police in the United States in 2020, global demonstrations ensued. As a result, corporations faced increasing pressure to confront issues related to slavery and racial inequality.
Lloyd’s issued an apology at the time for its historical ties to the slave trade and funded the independent report.
It stated that it had no editorial control over the review, which was independently funded by the Mellon Foundation and conducted by academics at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.
One of the professors responsible for the research, Alexandre White, combed through Lloyd’s archive materials, which comprised insurance ledgers for ships departing Liverpool in connection with the slave trade.
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It was made evident, according to him, that Lloyd’s was a component of “a sophisticated network of financial interests and activities” that facilitated the transatlantic slave trade.
However, according to him, the material provided scant details regarding the individuals who were “enslaved and captured through the mechanisms enabled by the Lloyd’s market.”
The Role of Financial Architectures
He explained in an online video that although the operations of insurers in London may appear to be unrelated to the harsh conditions of African coasts such as plantations, ships, and prisons, the financial architectures developed at Lloyd’s helped maintain the institution of slavery.
In history, the transatlantic slave trade constituted the most extensive coerced migration. Approximately 12–15 million Africans were forcibly transported from the continent to the Americas (particularly the Caribbean, North America, Central America, and South America) between 1500 and 1800.
More than two million Africans are believed to have perished during their voyage to the Americas.
Facilitating the Slave Trade
“The expansion of the transatlantic slave trade was facilitated by the insurance of ships, cargo, and captured enslaved persons,” said Mr. White, concluding that Lloyd’s clients and members of its governing body had “significant connections to the transatlantic slave trade.”
Lloyd’s of London, an insurance market established in 1688, is frequently regarded as the preeminent market globally, with a particular emphasis on specialized domains including energy, political, and marine risk.
Lloyd’s of London’s Response and Criticisms
In response to the review, Bruce Carnegie-Brown, the organization’s chairman, expressed profound remorse for the immense suffering that occurred during this period in our history, which continues to affect communities and individuals to this day.
We are resolute in our determination to address the persistent inequalities that black and ethnically diverse people face and experience.
The company has pledged to implement a “comprehensive series of initiatives” aimed at facilitating the “participation and advancement from the classroom to the boardroom” of individuals from disparate ethnic backgrounds.
It also announced that it would invest approximately £12 million in enhancing BAME employment and career advancement in the commercial insurance industry.
Kehinde Andrews, a Black Studies professor at the University of Birmingham, characterized the action as a “public relations stunt” that was “obviously offensive.”
He stated that if they were sincere, they would advocate for reparations, which involve transferring wealth to the descendants of the enslaved, rather than a diversity program for so-called “ethnically diverse” individuals, as any corporation ought to do.
A think center for race equality, the Runnymede Trust, applauded Lloyd’s effort to acknowledge past errors.
However, it cast doubt on the insurance industry’s dedication to diversity by drawing attention to Lloyd’s ethnicity pay gap, an indices-based disparity in average earnings between ethnic groups.
Its interim co-chief executive, Dr. Shabna Begum, stated, “This gap must be closed not only through greater ‘inclusion and diversity,’ but also through proactive anti-racist policies that address income and pay disparities immediately.”
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