LONDON, April 20 — Women should make up at least 40 per cent of boards at British listed companies and one director should be a person of colour, the country’s financial watchdog said today as it set a range of diversity targets for firms’ top leaders.
The FCA said companies will have to make annual statements showing how they are complying with the new rules, or explain any divergences. In February the government-backed FTSE Women Leaders Review said female representation on the boards of Britain’s top 100 companies stood at 39.1 per cent. “The new rules will be challenging for some companies,” said Delphine Currie, partner at law firm Reed Smith.A separate survey said in March that the majority of Britain’s top companies now have at least one ethnic minority board member.