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Lehman Brothers, the US based investment bank, recently held a recruitment event at a Hong Kong university, specifically targeted at gay and lesbian students interested in the banking industry. The event went so well they are now planning a similar event in Singapore. But recruiting gays and lesbians in a region where homosexuality is still taboo and in some cases illegal proves a complex matter.
Asia has become an increasingly important and competitive region for banks seeking high profile deals such as IPOs (Initial Public Offerings). The increased volume of transactions has lead to vastly increased hiring and intense industry competition makes it crucial to ensure that talented gay professionals are not deterred from applying because of a combination of regional intolerance and western macho behavior on trading floors.
Beyond fierce competition for qualified applicants, investment banks are increasingly committed to corporate social responsibility. Some have even committed to only do business and send employees to locations where they will be safe from harassment and treated fairly. Cheryl de Souza, Lehman’s Asia director of diversity and inclusion, says: “Walking across some of the [trading] floors in Hong Kong, you will find that we now have people who feel comfortable about having a picture of their [same-sex] partner on their desk and that’s huge in terms of progress.”
But that progress is not universal, while advances have been made at investment banks which generally operate only in a country’s largest cities, Asian retail banks which have branches in smaller cities, where homophobia is more prevalent, have seen far less progress. What Lehman and some other investment banks are trying to achieve in Singapore and other parts in Asia runs counter to the region’s cultural and legal environment. Throughout Asia gay people still face discrimination at home and in the workplace because of a mix of family conservatism and legal bans.
Richard Welford, a director of CSR Asia, a consultancy focused on corporate social responsibility, says: “In the vast majority of cases in Asia, gays and lesbians have to stay hidden. Sometimes they will even make up boyfriends or girlfriends … But it does seem that in some sectors such as investment banking, businesses are taking the lead [in improving the situation for gay people].”