Technical Analysis - ​Chart Pattern - Symmetrical Triangle 
A Symmetrical Triangle is a chart pattern creation where the slope of the price’s highs and the slope of the price’s lows converge together to a point where it looks like a triangle.
This means that neither the buyers nor the sellers could push the price far enough to make a distinct trend. If such type of pattern happens, we get lower highs and higher lows.
If this were a war between the buyers and sellers, then this would be a draw.

​Since we already know that the price is likely to break out, we can just grab a ride in whatever way the market moves. In the above situation, purchasers wins and the price break and advance in upward direction.
In this example, if we put an entry order above the slope of the lower highs at white top, we would’ve been carried along for a pleasant ride up.
If you had put another entry order below the slope of the higher lows, then you would cancel it as soon as the first order was hit. Also, the most important thing in trading is to must put stoploss in every transaction to avoid false breakout and significant loss.

Technical Analysis - ​Chart Pattern - Bullish Pennant
The Bullish Pennants signal indicator are that bulls are going to go a-charging again. This suggests that the strong ascent in price would resume after the short time of consolidation in price when the bulls amass enough energy to propel the price higher again. In this scenario, the price made a steep vertical increase before taking a rest.

​Just like we predicted, the price made another big move in rising direction after the breakout. To play this trade, trader can place the long order just above the white top of the pennant and stop below the bottom of the pennant to avoid fakeouts.

Technical Analysis - ​Chart Pattern - Bearish Pennant
A Bearish Pennant is created at some point of a severe, virtually vertical, downturn. After that significant drop in price, some sellers closed their positions even as other sellers determine to join the trend, causing the market consolidate for a moment. As soon as sufficient sellers jump in the trend, the price breaks below the bottom of the pennant pattern and continue to go downward direction.

As you can see, the slide in price proceeded after the price made a breakout to the bottom. To trade this chart pattern, we’d put a short order at the black bottom of the pennant with a stop loss above the pennant

​Technical Analysis - Chart Pattern - Bullish Rectangle 
Formed when the price consolidates for some length in an upswing.
This happens due to the fact that purchasers may want to pause and catch their breath before taking the pair much higher.
In this scenario, price broke the top of the rectangle chart pattern and continued to shoot upward.
Look at the chart, how the price climbed all the way upward after breaking above the top of the rectangle formation.
If we had a long order on white top of the resistance level and stoploss at lower point of second candle, we would’ve caught some pips (“percentage in point” or “price interest point”) on the trade!

Technical Analysis - Chart Pattern - Bearish Rectangle 
Bearish Rectangle is produced when the price consolidates for a moment all through a decline.
This happens due to the reality sellers probably need to freeze and collect their breath before taking the pair further lower.
In this situation, price breached the lowest of the rectangle chart pattern and continued to rocket down.
Price broke the bottom of the rectangle chart pattern & went towards the downward direction.
If we put a short order exactly below the support level, we would have made some nice profit on this trade.
The tip: Once the pair goes below the support level, it tends to make a move that is around the size of the rectangle formed.

​Investment - Trust and Stakeholder Obligations
How Professions Establish Trust
For a profession to be credible, a fundamental goal is to develop confidence among clients and society in general. In doing so, professions have to perform some common duties that, when combined, considerably improve confidence and credibility in professionals and their organisations. The next sections go into further specifics concerning those requirements.

Professions Normalise Practitioner Behaviour

Professionalism is grounded by a code of ethics and standards of conduct created by professional bodies. Regulators often promote professional ethics and appreciate the foundation for ethics that professions can give. Many regulators throughout the world have engaged extensively with professional bodies to understand their codes of ethics (codes) and standards of conduct (standards) as well as how they are implemented.

" " Codes and standards produced by practitioners can be complementary to legislation, codifying many more individual practices than the high-level principles set by regulation. 

Many governments have acknowledged that a profession may establish a more sophisticated system of standards than a regulator can, via continual practitioner input and a strong mutual desire within the profession to preserve good standards and embrace best practices. Government backing of professions is related to the role of professions in serving the public and guaranteeing expert and principled performance of complicated services. 

Professions Provide a Service to Society 

" " There is an obligation for professionals to go beyond norms and standards. Professionals should fight for higher educational and ethical standards in their field – individually and through their associations. Professions can broaden access to services and enhance economic activity by increasing trust in the industries they serve. Professions have understood that obtaining community trust not only provides professional pride and acceptability, but also delivers business rewards.



A profession that earns confidence may ultimately have greater freedom and independence from government and regulators to run its own affairs, which permits members of the profession to establish service models that are both valuable to clients and beneficial to members. 

Professions Are Client Focussed

An vital component of a profession’s mission is to design and manage regulations, best practice guidelines, and standards that guide an industry. These norms, standards, and principles assist ensure that all professionals place the integrity of their profession and the interests of clients above their own personal interests.

" " At a minimum, professionals must act in the best interests of the client, exhibiting a reasonable level of care, skill, and effort. The commitment to deliver a high quality of care when acting for the benefit of another party is called fiduciary duty.

Other institutions, including employers, regulators, trade groups, and not-for-profit organisations, may also promote an industry but are not the same as professional bodies. Unlike professions, these other entities generally do not exist to develop and maintain professional standards. Most businesses urge staff to be members of relevant professional associations, and many financially support this membership to hopefully increase the quality of client service and promote ethical consciousness.

Professions Have High Entry Standards 

Membership in a profession is a statement to the market that the professional will produce high-quality service of a guaranteed standard, extending beyond academic and technical credentials. Professions establish courses that prepare prospective professionals to be competent, including in their knowledge, technical skills, and ethics.

Professions Possess a Body of Expert Knowledge

A repository of knowledge, generated by experienced and expert practitioners, is made available to all members of a profession. This knowledge helps members perform successfully and ethically and is based on best practice.

Professions Encourage and Facilitate Professional Development 


Entry into a profession does not, on its own, guarantee that an individual will maintain competency and continue to observe professional norms. After qualification and throughout the working life of a professional, there will be changes in knowledge and technical skills to perform certain jobs, in technology and standards of ethical behaviour, in services that can be offered, and in the legal and business environment in which professional services are delivered.  


These all demand the development of competency and ethical consciousness. Most professional bodies make it a condition of membership that a particular quantity of new learning is completed each year.

Typically, such requirements define a time commitment, which may be split into distinct competences and forms of learning activity. This is generally referred to as ongoing professional development (CPD) and is viewed as a crucial aspect of maintaining professional standards. The training and education that professionals undertake raise the value of human capital, which can contribute to economic growth and social mobility. 

Professions Monitor Professional Conduct

Members of a profession must be held accountable for their conduct to protect the integrity and reputation of an industry. Doing so frequently includes self-regulation by professional bodies through monitoring and application of punishments on members.

" " Professions Are Collegial

" " Professionals should be respectful to one other, even while they are competing. At the very least, they must respect the rights, dignity, and autonomy of others, especially among co-workers.

​Investment - Application of DEI in Daily Work 

DEI is everyone’s duty, and you can take action to be inclusive in your own behaviours by becoming aware of what is discrimination and harassment. Be proactive in avoiding behaviour that can be regarded as discriminatory, such as inappropriate comments and jokes, excluding people based on their personal characteristics, being unjust in your dealings with others, or opaque in how you reward achievement.

If you are invited to take part in a recruitment panel, and you recognize biased language or behaviors, you should speak up. 

Review Policies, Processes, and Systems


There is the possibility for bias to become institutionalized over time. You can start to address it by analyzing policies and practices and identifying where there could be the potential for prejudice. An easy-to-understand example, such as in the hiring interns example above, is that there can be a practice of recruiting graduates from just the topmost colleges. When analyzing job descriptions, there may be phrasing that is exclusionary, such as ‘Ivy League education’ in the United States or from a ‘red brick university’ in the United Kingdom. There may also be other prejudices, such as phrasing connected to experience containing ‘X years of experience’, which can be a kind of age discrimination.

Bias is easy to recognize in the previous example, but in other circumstances it may not be so evident, which is why data should be collected and analyzed on the impact of policies and processes. This data can help to identify whether there is any differential treatment. 

As an example, collecting data regarding how many employees have been subject to disciplinary proceedings can assist discover patterns, such as if employees from some groups are handled more harshly or are more likely to face disciplinary action for similar issues than other groups.

What Can You Do to Foster a Sense of Belonging?


There are substantial materials available about inclusive leadership and how that may be used to create diverse, egalitarian, and inclusive organisations.

Taking an inclusive leadership style to your job can help develop a sense of belonging within your business — that is, a culture in which employees have their opinions heard and appreciated and people are free to be themselves. Remember, you do not have to be in a managerial or leadership role to adopt inclusive leadership principles in your job.

But leadership on DEI concerns is of crucial importance. According to the Employers Network for Equality & Inclusion,1 ‘Leaders who are aware of their own prejudices and inclinations, actively seek out and evaluate other ideas and perspectives to inspire better decision making. They perceive diverse talent as a source of competitive advantage and empower different people to drive organisational and individual performance towards a shared vision.’

Traits of an inclusive leader include the following:
Seeks out alternative thoughts and perspectives
Takes takes board and offers fair thought to a multiplicity of ideas
Understands the commercial benefits of acquiring, developing, and maintaining diverse personnel
Inspires and inspires diverse people towards accomplishing shared aims


Acknowledging Identities, Beliefs, and Important Events


If you have ever had your name pronounced incorrectly, you know how aggravating it can be. Learning how someone would like to be addressed, their beliefs, and events that are important to them can help create inclusiveness. Bridging differences amongst colleagues is great workplace practice. Try to get to know new colleagues by having open and honest talks. If a coworker describes a habit or event that is important to them, you may ask them to tell you more about it. It is crucial to respect colleagues’ desires if they do not want to disclose an area of their lives. But most individuals will embrace the opportunity to talk about their ideas, customs, and culture.

Acknowledging religious, cultural, and other occasions significant to employees is a step all firms can take to be more inclusive and help build a sense of belonging. A practical approach to accomplish this is by disseminating a calendar of these events to staff and ensuring that these types of events are acknowledged and, when feasible, celebrated. 

Develop an Inclusive Mindset

The following strategies will help you establish a more inclusive mentality, which can, in turn, foster greater inclusivity and sense of belonging inside your company.

Work Inclusively
Have a real commitment to DEI, challenge the current quo, hold people accountable, encourage involvement from all, and become aware of and avoid dismissive verbal and non-verbal habits, such as ignoring someone when they are presenting.

Be Aware of Bias
Take efforts to help uncover your personal prejudices and adopt System 2 thinking Be mindful of systemic prejudices and do not be persuaded by groupthink.

Develop an Open Mindset
Have a genuine curiosity about the perspectives of others, especially those who do not share the same social features, which can help you become more aware of and adapt to the cultures of others.

Enacting DEI Principles 
Enacting DEI principles inside an organisation is a substantial change endeavor and can take a significant amount of time to embed. Ingrained historical bias takes great work and resources to overcome. Change in this respect is more of a marathon than a sprint, and the investment management sector, along with the rest of the economy, will require time to change its ways of operating.

Race and ethnicity programming, for example, were among the first DEI targets to be addressed. But a recent poll in the United Kingdom by the HR membership body, the CIPD, indicated that less than half of businesses gather data on race. But in other areas, such as gender, there has been substantial positive improvement.2

At its foundation, DEI is about respecting others and being open to learning about individuals. Just by being real, open-minded, and polite, you may help to developing an inclusive organisational culture where individuals who are completely engaged create outstanding outcomes.

​Investment - Bias Recognition and Mitigation 
Best Practices and Success Metrics for DEI 
The benefits of DEI and several techniques to improving DEI were briefly reviewed in the preceding sessions. In this course, we delve into greater detail on harnessing DEI for outstanding workplace creativity, problem-solving, and performance.

Simply developing a DEI programme does not by itself bring the types of commercial benefits stated above. Research by Josh Bersin, a notable writer on employment, has indicated that organizations ‘focussing on the correct DEI procedures have superior company performance and results.’1


Delivering DEI Outcomes


Expanding the talent pipeline, the first of the six principles of the CFA Institute DEI Code, is vital to fulfilling the needs of the changing workplace and demands of recruits to the industry.

Events over the past few years have changed the character of the job. People are increasingly working from home and work–life balance is more crucial. Younger job entrants are looking for more purpose from their employment beyond the typical cash incentives. People are far more worried with DEI as well as other concerns, including those involving the environment and social justice. 

So, should corporations first raise the representation of underrepresented groups or make their organisations inclusive so they can employ and retain diverse talent? They actually need to accomplish both concurrently. Role modelling is key: If potential candidates realize that there are people like themselves that are doing well in their careers inside a company, they are more likely to apply. 


Norway, for example, has had a quota for board-level gender diversity for nearly 20 years. Studies have indicated that having this quota has had a good effect on the gender diversity of the talent pipeline and encouraged younger women to enter the field knowing that they can attain to the most senior levels. 

Success Metrics


What does success in implementing DEI look like? There are five sorts of indicators organizations can use to measure success on DEI.

Representation
Increase the percentage of roles from underrepresented groups. 

Recruitment and Selection
Increase the ratio of applications from underrepresented groups, and the percentage being selected for leadership jobs. 

Engagement
Staff surveys should indicate improvement in inclusive practices of managers and leaders. 

Promotion
Increase the number of high-potential internal applicants from underrepresented groups that are promoted. 

Retention
Decrease the turnover of staff from minority groups.   

Robust Monitoring and Tracking
It is crucial for businesses to monitor and track DEI efforts to measure progress. Many organizations, particularly huge firms, put substantial resources and effort into DEI initiatives without any way of understanding whether it has led to a beneficial impact. It is detrimental to engage in DEI initiatives without tracking progress. Programmes may be written off as failures because there was no data to show where underrepresentation had occurred and if it had subsequently been addressed.

Organisations that have built an inclusive culture with a strong sense of fairness, equity, transparency, and community have achieved great performance. According to the 2022 Ipsos Workplace Belonging Survey of US-based workers, these businesses are likely to experience the following:

 1.6x more likely to meet or exceed financial targets
 1.6x more likely to please and retain consumers
 8.4x more likely to be recognised for DEI by stakeholders
 21.1x more likely to have diverse leaders and industry-leading DEI
 3.1x more likely to efficiently respond to change
 2.1x more likely to innovate successfully
 2.6x more likely to engage and retain their personnel
 4.3x more likely to establish a sense of belonging


Why Is a Sense of Belonging an Important DEI Outcome?


People search for a sense of belonging in all parts of their lives, whether it is with friends and family or at work. Until recently, data tying belonging to performance was fairly thin. But there are now extensive studies that indicate a favorable association with a sense of belonging, a feeling of contentment, and employees being more productive.  

The same Ipsos Workplace Belonging Survey linked above, found that 88% of respondents either strongly or somewhat believe that a sense of belonging contributes to increased productivity at work.    

In addition, the survey indicated that only 36% believed they worked in an inclusive atmosphere. The research highlights both the value of belonging and that there is a lot of work to do. If less than 40% of people in the world’s most developed economy feel a feeling of belonging, it obviously suggests that employers need to make a lot more effort.


Lack of a sense of belonging may contribute to low morale among employees, which can result in lower levels of performance. Additionally, if employees do not see long-term career opportunities, they will seek alternate employment. Nearly half of respondents to the study are either actively looking for another role or are open to new chances. The survey also indicated that people actively pursuing another employment are much more likely to feel ‘lonely and excluded at work’.

​Investment - Bias Recognition and Mitigation 
Devise an internal communication plan that not only informs employees of inclusion initiatives but also engages and promotes input. Conduct internal marketing, making use of microsites, blogs, posters, and internal DEI champions. 
 Recognition and Mitigation
Recognising Biases

A typical counterargument to workplace DEI is, ‘if someone has the ability, they will obtain the job’.

This argument relies on employment being granted on merit, the assumption being that recruitment processes are fair and free from bias and discrimination. Therefore, if someone from a minority group fails to secure a job, they did not have the ability.

The concept that the best person will receive the job assumes there is a level playing field, and that if someone fails to achieve in life it is completely their fault. Michael Sandel criticizes this assumption in his book, The Tyranny of Merit.1 He shows evidence that even educational accomplishment is tied to socioeconomic background – for example, two-thirds of Harvard students are from the top fifth of the US income scale. 

Even where you have comparably qualified, skilled applicants, biases might lead to vastly different outcomes. These biases may be conscious or unconscious — that is, purposeful or unintentional. Another, lesser-known aspect is something psychologist, author, and Nobel Prize–winner in economics, Daniel Kahneman, characterizes as ‘noise’. 

Noise refers to external variables that lead to uneven decision making. External influences can include, for example, the time of day someone conducts a job interview, which is also a form of prejudice that can lead to inconsistent decision making.

1 Michael J. Sandel, The Tyranny of Merit: What’s Become of the Common Good (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2020).

Bias and Behaviour
Bias is a set of assumptions and stereotypes that people have regarding those different from themselves. Biases are built up by the effects of individuals around them and can include their background, the media they consume, and their network of friends and acquaintances. Biases can be both positive and bad, such as expecting that persons from specific backgrounds will be better at arithmetic or that a person from a less prestigious university will be less capable.  

Bias Is Unavoidable and Human
The amount of information that humans are bombarded with every day is impossible for our conscious brain to cope with, and so, our unconscious brain makes the majority of our daily decisions. In Daniel Kahneman’s book, Thinking, Fast and Slow,2 he discusses System 1 and System 2 thinking. System 1 refers to the quick unconscious decisions that we make, whereas System 2 thinking involves purposeful decisions. According to his studies, more than 90% of our decisions are based on System 1 thinking.  

This technique works well for ordinary daily chores, but how does it effect decision making for crucial tasks? Going back to the hiring practices described above, we find that System 1 thinking can permit unconscious stereotypes and prejudices stored in our brain generate decisions that are contradictory to the ideals of fairness and equity.

Bias Translates into Behaviour
Although mentally we may feel that we are inclusive and embrace the idea of meritocracy, in our daily lives, a considerable percentage of our action will be based on unconscious thinking. A male executive may believe that they favor equality of opportunity and more women getting into senior level roles, but in their dealings with female executives, much of their behaviour may be based on their unconscious biases. If, for example, they had a traditional upbringing in which women in the family performed traditional duties of caregiving and managing the home, it may alter their expectations of female executives and how females should behave in the office.   

Bias Affects Performance
Bias can create an environment in which groups adversely categorized by management are perceived to perform poorly because they present differently. This attitude is typically the cumulative consequence of the expectations of specific groups held by senior management, and so, those groups could become isolated and ignored and not receive as much management support or recognition. Even tiny mistakes by members of these groups could be exaggerated in the perspective of management, which may result in a self-fulfilling prophesy of bad performance. 

INDIVIDUAL
Most diversity projects concentrate at the individual level with the aim of changing attitudes and conduct. Diversity training is the most typical approach at creating inclusiveness. But the media is replete with reports on the ineffectiveness of diversity training, citing substantial study on the subject.

The problem is that training is often being carried out in a vacuum – that is, with no correlation with business objectives. Attitudes and behaviour of individuals may be changed by attending a training session, but if they do not receive support from their supervisors and peers, they may revert to their unconscious biases and related behaviours.  

GROUP/TEAM
At the group/team level, insider–outsider dynamics truly come into play. The influence of unconscious prejudice, which perpetuates stereotypes, can be large and destructive because it impacts an entire community of people.  

If the executive team, for example, predominantly consists of men, then typical male qualities may be perceived as being perfect for leadership. In this circumstance, women coming into the executive team may find it challenging to make an influence.  

ORGANISATION

Stereotypes and bigotry truly become established at the organisation level.  

The insider groups at the top of the hierarchy affect policies and processes as well as the unwritten rules, habits, and traditions. These can have unconscious and inadvertent bias built in.  



The impact of bias in leadership roles can become institutionalised and apparent in policies, practices, and systems, frequently referred to as systemic bias. Some forms of bias may be advantageous, such as an investing firm being risk adverse in its investment decisions, which may serve its investors well during market volatility or economic turmoil. 

While some forms of bias serve a business well, there are other sorts of bias, such as in recruiting or promotion, that can promote prejudice and block talented people from acquiring employment or growing in their career.


MARKETPLACE
A crucial force for change in a linked, globalised society is at the marketplace level.  

Does a company’s brand represent the diversity of its consumer base? Is there a gap between the varied picture portrayed in ads and other promotional material and the real make-up of the organisation? Is the organization able to engage a varied consumer in an inclusive manner?  


An corporate culture that comes from unconscious bias will come over in client

How Bias Can Affect Investment Decisions
Bias not only influences decisions we make about other people, but it also affects other critical elements of our lives, such as how we manage our finances and even how we invest money. Behavioural finance is the study of the role human psychology plays in the way people invest and its impact on financial markets. This contrasts with standard economic and financial theory, in which there is an assumption that investors are rational and make judgments based on an analysis of all available evidence. All investors, from amateurs to seasoned money managers, have the ability to act impulsively.

Irrational behaviour in this context involves departing from proven analytical techniques and objective decision making. Some of this unreasonable behaviour is based on personal biases. As with any sort of bias, these can be altered by group conduct. Studies within this sector have revealed many types of prejudice that are widespread among investors. 

Overconfidence in Forecasting Skills
People displaying unwarranted faith in their own intuitive thinking, judgements, and/or cognitive ability. This bias can lead to hazardous activity, such as persons assuming they can dependably forecast how financial markets would behave.

Confirmation Bias
When a person has an initial theory and is then obsessed on any data that confirms their belief, ignoring other data which may invalidate the hypothesis. 

Availability Bias Individuals giving undue weight to easily accessible information rather than carrying out comprehensive investigation and analysis that may challenge readily available data. 

Illusion of Control
Similar to overconfidence, individuals assume they can control uncertain outcomes, such as corporate success or stock price behaviour

Self-Attribution Bias
People take credit for triumphs while blaming failures on external factors. This behaviour may be an attempt to preserve one’s self-esteem, while insulating oneself from taking personal responsibility for failures.

Hindsight Bias
Another protection strategy when, rather than conceding that their projections were not as accurate as they expected, individuals claim to have ‘known it all along’.

Biases in all their manifestations are ultimately a manifestation of human psychology that can create unreasonable action.


As much as prejudices can affect workplace and team dynamics, they can also impair investor–client relationships and reduce the effectiveness of investment teams. Firms that address workplace bias and effectively build an inclusive working environment will benefit from a workforce that has a strong sense of belonging. This will lead to greater levels of morale and dedication and help eliminate investment bias by permitting strong, yet respectful, debate. 

Mitigating Biases


Variables like bias can lead to unjust decisions being made in all facets of the employee experience. The significance of DEI is that it adds challenge into processes. DEI training enables individuals to take a step back to look at whether their decisions and the decision-making process were fair and transparent.

Building in supervision and examination into decision-making processes ensures a fairer conclusion. Even where there are fair and open processes in place, extraneous variables, such as time constraint, might lead to circumvention. If there is comprehensive and consistent scrutiny of decisions, bypassing protocols is less likely to happen. 

" " Consistently following an inclusive strategy leads to behaviour change as the approach becomes part of organizational culture. 

Can People Become De-Biased?


The objective of unconscious bias training is to make attendees aware of biases and assist them accept and realize that they and everyone else have biases. The theory is that if people comprehend the notion of bias and acknowledge their own prejudices, this heightened awareness would lead to less prejudiced decision making.

" " Single training sessions without ongoing coaching, however, are unlikely to lead to any good or long-lasting behavioural change. Despite unconscious prejudice being innate in all of us, there are steps that businesses may take to lessen its impact:

Help individuals acknowledge the idea that they and everyone else have biases, and that it has an impact on their decision making and behaviours.


Individuals should become aware of their prejudices by intentionally thinking about views that they hold about others different from themselves. Writing things down and establishing a list to which they can refer can be beneficial.


Interact often with people different from yourself.


Utilise 360 feedback systems as part of performance review, in which a varied set of colleagues can remark on performance.


Develop cross-cultural awareness through literature and training.

Addressing Workplace Bias

A proven strategy to avoid bias from impacting judgments is to build in safeguards, oversight, and examination to interrupt biased behaviour. As an example, just establishing a policy stating hiring managers need to conduct interviews of job applicants as a panel would not contribute to inclusion unless there are measures to assure adherence to agreed-on policies. Safeguards include requiring recruiting managers to confirm who will be the panel members for all rounds of interviews, sending interview notes to HR, and following objective and consistent criteria. Additionally, the talent acquisition unit should perform frequent random audits of the hiring process and interviewees to guarantee compliance.

Assess the organisation’s culture in connection to DEI through surveys, focus groups, and one-to-one interviews.

Review policies, processes, and systems and analyse customer and marketplace data. 

Adopt a top-down strategy. Form a diversity council chaired by the CEO or other senior leaders to design a plan and oversee DEI activities. The council should include of top officials from major revenue-generating departments, not merely the human resources department. 

Produce DEI metrics with both quantitative and qualitative indicators.

As part of the broader approach, provide diversity-awareness training looking at unconscious prejudice and techniques for recognizing individual fears surrounding dealing with persons from under-represented groups.

Assess the impact of DEI programmes. Review data on the achievement of targets set in diversity measures. Assess what has and what has not worked. Identify follow-up actions.

Over time, new behaviours will get embedded, and that is when actual behavioural change will happen.  

Individuals can limit the influence of their personal prejudices simply by ensuring they follow processes, and, over time, it becomes a part of business as usual.  

As an example, when a manager has to recruit a new team member either owing to business development or an existing employee departing, they are under a time pressure. It is customary in such cases to go with the safest alternative in the manager’s judgment, which means the decision is impacted by the manager’s personal biases. If the manager works in an organisation where there is strong scrutiny of recruitment decisions, following a fair and transparent process becomes internalised by management.

​Investment - Key Concepts in DEI 
CFA Institute DEI Code 
A major purpose that CFA Institute offers is to design and implement codes, best practices, and guidelines for the investment management sector. CFA Institute launched the DEI Code in February 2022 in response to demand from investment industry professionals. Built by a very diverse working group of investment industry professionals, CFA Institute members, workers, and DEI practitioners, the Code is a set of six principles aimed to encourage diversity, equity, and inclusion across the investment management business. It is a global code and is being rolled out on a regional basis, commencing with the United States and Canada presently and then followed by the United Kingdom and Europe.

Principle 1

Pipeline – We commit to expanding the diversified talent pipeline.

Principle 2

Talent Acquisition — We pledge to establishing, executing, and sustaining inclusive and equitable hiring and onboarding policies.

Principle 3

Promotion and Retention — We commit to establishing, implementing, and maintaining inclusive and equitable promotion and retention procedures to minimize barriers to development.


Principle 4

Leadership — We promise to leveraging our position and voice to support DEI and improve DEI outcomes in the investing industry. We will hold ourselves responsible for our firm’s growth.

Principle 5

Influence – We vow to leverage our role, position, and voice to support and increase measurable DEI results in the investing sector.

Principle 6 – Measurement — We commit to measuring and reporting on our progress in driving superior DEI results inside our organization. We will offer regular reporting on our firm’s DEI indicators to our senior management, our board, and CFA Institute.

Drivers for Engaging on DEI
Human distinctions, such as color, gender, ethnicity, ability, age, religion or belief, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic status, position individuals either within dominant social identity groups or subjugated groups. This separation promotes insider–outsider dynamics, with the insider groups usually at the top of the hierarchy. The demographic environment often decides who is part of the insider group and who is part of the outsider group. Beyond demographic disparities, insider–outsider relations may be based on the level of education, university attended, and even which workplace department individuals are a part of, with some departments and individuals perceived as bringing more value to the business than others. 

DEI is vital in the workplace because valued employees perform better, and people feel valued when they can be themselves. If individuals have to cover any element of their identity in order to fit in, they may not feel engaged in the workplace. As a result, people may not perform to their best skills.

There is a body of evidence that says having a diverse workforce raises levels of innovation and creativity, enhances abilities for addressing challenges, and improves financial performance.

A 2013 report from Deloitte Australia and Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission titled ‘Waiter, Is That Inclusion in My Soup? A New Recipe to Improve Business Performance’, demonstrated that inclusive businesses experience the following:
83% increase in the ability to innovate 31% uplift in the responsiveness to changing client needs
42% boost in team collaboration

Willis Towers Watson, which has USD2.6 trillion in assets under advisement, studied more than 2,400 individual investment teams globally and found that diverse groups outperformed those with no gender or ethnic minority personnel by 20 bps (basis points) a year, on average.

What is Discrimination? 
There are three types of discrimination, which are detailed in the slides below. The slides will first introduce the form of discrimination and clarify each term, and then you will be presented with a scenario to assist you better grasp how prejudice can manifest in practice.

Direct Discrimination
Direct discrimination is when an individual is discriminated against because of a personal attribute they possess or are believed to possess.   

Indirect Discrimination
Indirect discrimination is where a condition applies equally to everyone yet puts individuals that share a particular attribute at a disadvantage. The condition has no objective justification.   

Harassment
Harassment includes unwanted activity, verbal and/or physical, that has the impact of making a person uncomfortable, embarrassed, intimidated, or upset. Sexual harassment is one of the most common types of harassment.