28 years later. Has anything really changed? Well, no. Black and underprivileged people as innocent as Stephen Lawrence continue to be murdered around the world; whether that be in police custody as in the case of George Floyd, which sparked global unrest and the Black Lives Matter¹ movement rising in prominence, or as a result of local council and wider governmental failings, as in the case of the Grenfell Tower Fire - a 24-storey council home to numerous non-white families.
Irrespective of the cause, what remains consistent is the painful process that loved ones of victims have to undergo to get justice. With corrupt police conduct running rife through the Stephen Lawrence case, the continuous fight from his parents Doreen and Neville saw the Macpherson Inquiry² lead to an overhaul of Britain’s race relations legislation. Additionally, the "double jeopardy rule" was reformed, which almost 20 years later, in 2012, led to two of Stephen’s five murderers being sentenced to life in prison.
Macpherson's most controversial finding was his use of the term "institutional racism" which he explained as the "collective failure of an organisation to provide a professional service … through unwitting prejudice, ignorance, thoughtlessness and racist stereotyping which disadvantage minority ethnic people". It is also described in the report as a “corrosive disease” which is evident in society today given the assumption that black victims of violence are themselves involved in criminal activity.
An incident mirroring this prejudice involves Alexandra Wilson, a black Barrister, who is often mistaken for a defendant when in court. In her book “In Black and White”, she covers these experiences and also highlights how the mistreatment of black people in the legal profession negatively impacts how justice is served to our Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) populations in the UK. These prejudices don’t end here however, within the anti-financial crime space today we see barriers for BAME individuals accessing financial services, a lack of BAME representation in the industry past senior management roles, a huge disparity between how banks and FinTechs approach diversity and how they factor it into their AFC control mechanisms.
Next Steps
So, how do we combat institutional racism? Undoubtedly, to discriminate on the grounds of race is against the law. Be that as it may, this isn’t wholly felt throughout the black community. As such, a vast variety of authors have assembled from different backgrounds and ethnicities in an effort to clear up any misconceptions and inconsistencies around racism. They have put pen to paper and have written books to tell their side of events and have their voices heard in an attempt to ultimately help white people understand and deal with their privilege. A company wide FINTRAIL book club was held in October 2020 that marked Black History Month; we read a range of books with the aim of challenging/altering our own perspectives on race related issues.
Books read, so... Job done? Absolutely not. No matter the amount of content we read on anti-racism, fundamentally, we need to practise it. We need to support non-white perspectives within our teams, be cautious when considering demographic factors when evaluating customer risk and be self aware of our own unconscious biases with regards clearing/investigating screening or monitoring alerts. These suggestions along with others in this FINTRAIL blog post highlight some very practical steps we can take within the world of anti-financial crime to combat systemic racism. Further, via a podcast series, FINTRAIL also sought out BAME anti-financial crime professionals to discover the moments in their careers that shaped them as a professional. On these podcasts, we discuss what more we can do to promote racial diversity within our industry as well as how we can support and learn from racially diverse voices.
How else then are the FINTRAIL team exploring diversity issues? In addition to the above, we have a company-wide dedicated Diversity Equality and Inclusion (DEI) strategy. This ensures each team member has personal accountability in reducing racism. A few of our next steps include partnering with an organisation to promote AFC internships for BAME school leavers, widening of our candidate pool when hiring and the creation of an internal DEI forum for team members to openly discuss adversity. We’d love to hear what you are doing either individually or as a firm to combat racism.
If you are interested in speaking to the FINTRAIL team about the topics discussed here or any other anti-financial crime topics, please feel free to get in touch with Ishima Romain, Analyst or email us at contact@fintrail.co.uk.
¹https://blacklivesmatter.com/ (US) and https://blacklivesmatter.uk/ (UK)
²https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/277111/4262.pdf