Morningstar Joins LGBT Great

Morningstar has become one of the first major research and data providers to join LGBT Great as a corporate member, in a move to increase its support for LGBT+ talent, equality, and inclusion, both internally and across the investment industry. LGBT Great said the decision by Morningstar to join its global diversity and inclusion membership comes at a time when organisational inclusion is increasingly in the spotlight and it is continuing to develop globally.

Morningstar has already taken several steps to develop its organisational approach to diversity and inclusion and has established several employee networks including Out@Morningstar. This dedicated focus group is working to increase awareness of LGBT+ identities across the firm and create an empowering environment for LGBT+ people. Morningstar will also host one of the first post-pandemic, in-person, LGBT+ networking events in London on 16 September, supported by LGBT Great.

As part of Morningstar joining LGBT Great, the provider will benefit from access to the investment sector LGBT+ benchmarking tool known as iiBT. Based on ten diversity and inclusion indicators, this will support Morningstar to assess key areas of organisational strength whilst shining a light on any areas for improvement. LGBT Great said Morningstar will also be able to leverage its innovative, sector-focused, LGBT+ inclusion insights training and mentoring to improve awareness of the community across its international employee base.

It added the new partnership is also significant because Morningstar will work with LGBT Great to improve its stewardship on LGBT+ diversity, equality and inclusion issues across the investment management sector more broadly. Morningstar employs over 8,250 people, across 29 different countries, and covers 621,370 investment types.

LGBT Great said this advocacy is much needed after its A New Frontier: LGBT+ lens investing for the 2020s report found that awareness of LGBT+ issues was surprisingly low amongst professional investors.

A total of 85% said they had not yet considered an LGBT+ investment lens, while 75% noted minimal access to quality data and metrics was a key reason holding them back. LGBT Great and Morningstar will now work together to intensify LGBT+ investor education and visibility at a sector level through improved data, research and advocacy.

Paul Malone, UK chief executive officer and West EMEA regional leader at Morningstar, commented:

"I am proud that Morningstar has become a corporate member of LGBT Great. Our unrelenting aim is to provide a workplace that welcomes, celebrates, invests in, and empowers all people while presenting an example of excellence to the industry. Through this partnership, we will not only work to further advance our own approach to LGBT+ inclusion, we will also support LGBT Great with its aims for the industry overall. We look forward to driving forward this important work together." 

Fabio Peyer, senior marketing manager, products and services EMEA at Morningstar, said:

"We are delighted to announce our partnership with LGBT Great and will collaborate through mutual research capabilities and utilising data to make a significant difference to the LGBT+ community at Morningstar and in the wider industry overall. Through LGBT Great, we will also provide our LGBT+ talent, and allies, with important learning interventions which will support us in creating a supportive environment and one which encourages colleagues to be proud and ‘out' at work."

Matt Cameron, global managing director of LGBT Great, said:

"LGBT Great is proud to announce our partnership with Morningstar who will support us in achieving our vision of our industry becoming the most trusted sector of choice for LGBT+ talent, clients and investors with every firm advocating visibly. We look forward to working together to expand our data and research expertise for our members and improving the awareness of LGBT+ issues among the professional investment community overall."