#MeToo shock waves stir Britain’s financial sector

LONDON: A series of very public sackings, suspensions and departures suggests that Britain’s finance world is waking up to the toxic implications of sexual harassment and bullying in the workplace.

The changes come a little more than a year after the #MeToo movement exploded into public consciousness. The campaign, in which women from a range of professions went public with allegations of harassment, quickly spread to Britain. And some of the most high-profile cases have come from inside the testosterone-fuelled world of business.

Some senior women executives who have broken the glass ceiling have been instrumental in accelerating the pace of change.

At the beginning of the week, four British auditing firms — Deloitte, KPMG, PwC and FY — announced they had shown the door to staff accused of sexual harassment or workplace bullying.

Deloitte alone revealed that it had fired 20 of its partners in Britain over the last four years for bullying and sexual harassment.

In the insurance industry, 50 companies signed up to a good conduct charter — the Inclusive Behaviours Pledge — to try to counter the problem of harassment.

One of its main backers was Inga Beale, at the time chief executive of Lloyds of London and known as an outspoken advocate for a more welcoming environment for women in business.

There have been other revelations beyond the world of high finance.

In October, fashion tycoon Philip Green was named as the executive who used the courts to try to stop the publication of allegations of harassment against him by five employees.

Green denied “unlawful sexual or racist behaviour” after Peter Hain, a member of the House of Lords, used parliamentary privilege to name him.

Hain was criticised for breaking what was an interim injunction that could have been subsequently overturned in court.

But in the wake of the #MeToo movement, the incident sparked a debate about the use by the rich of injunctions — and non-disclosure agreements — to escape the scandals their conduct would otherwise cause.