We believe that diversity and inclusion are critical to business success and we are committed to attracting, supporting and promoting a workforce that represents the diverse communities in which we operate.
We pride ourselves on respectful working partnerships that are intrinsic to how we do business with our members and clients, and how we interact with our colleagues. We have a number of initiatives in place to help support and develop our diversity and inclusion agenda.
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We are proud to have achieved our Stonewall Bronze Award – recognising our commitment to being an LGBTQ+ inclusive employer.
LME is celebrating Black History Month throughout October.
We kicked off this month's events on 3 October, when we hosted an exciting evening in the Ring with Barbadian cricketer Sir Gordon Greenidge MBE. The evening included a panel discussion, music and dancing!
Visit our BHM page for more information.
Attracting, nurturing and retaining female talent continue to be key priorities for us at LME Group. When we signed up to the Women in Finance Charter in September 2020, LME Group had 31.9% representation of females across its senior management positions (SVP and MD level). Since then, we are proud to have progressed a number of initiatives detailed below, focused on fostering a gender-balanced talent pipeline and empowering more women to push for promotion. So far, the results of these initiatives are promising, with female promotions to SVP level sitting at 38% from a VP population with 29% female representation, and the LME Executive Committee reaching 64% female representation this year.
With our overall gender balance across senior management at LME Group standing at 34.8% as of 6 September 2024, there is of course still more to do but we are heartened by the progress we’ve made on embedding our four-pillar strategy for gender equity, and expect to see these efforts bear fruit in the coming months and years.
Over the last 12 months we have continued to work on four key areas to drive a more balanced representation of women in senior management roles:
- Attracting talent – Encouraging a diverse range of applicants through our inclusive recruitment process remains a cornerstone of our attraction strategy. We continue to build a strong and diverse junior talent pipeline though our apprenticeship programme, which is entering its fourth term – attracting candidates from underrepresented backgrounds. 75% of our female apprentices have converted to permanent roles after completing their apprenticeship, accounting for 50% of our apprentices who have moved into permanent roles. Where possible, we use a diverse, gender-balanced panel of interviewers to meet with prospective employees, to encourage diverse perspectives.
- Retaining and developing talent – In 2024 we undertook a business reorganisation that has resulted LME Executive Committee having 64% female representation. Increasing senior female representation on the Executive Committee not only provides strong role models for more junior staff but also drives diversity of thought in key decision-making processes for the organisation.
We have also dedicated significant effort to refining our succession planning processes. A key component of this initiative involves identifying high-potential female candidates and creating tailored development plans to cultivate their leadership skills. This structured approach aims to enhance our diverse talent pipeline and ensure robust representation at the executive level.
We continue to be active members of the 30% Cross-Company Mentoring Programme, increasing our participation to 20 employees, with 10 mentors and 10 mentees enrolled in the programme in 2024. We have also enhanced our learning & development offering to provide more targeted training for females with a view to supporting their progression within the firm.
- Education - Over the past 12 months, our Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) Forum networks have continued to raise awareness and drive engagement through events, speaking opportunities and internal communications. Furthermore, we have introduced a new menopause policy and associated training. This has been launched in response to feedback from colleagues, and was designed to help anyone experiencing menopause symptoms to have open and transparent conversations with line managers, colleagues or members of the HR team. In addition, we have also introduced a new partner leave policy, replacing our previous paternity leave policy, which offers enhanced leave and pay to fathers, partners of mothers and other new parents. This enhanced policy is designed to help support wider cultural change in respect of gender diversity as well as our commitment to fostering greater equity and inclusion in our workplace.
- Reporting and governance - We have continued to report progress towards our 2025 target on a quarterly basis to the executive committees for full transparency. In addition to our Women In Finance Charter submission, we also publish our Gender Pay Gap each year, which currently stands at 11.1% for the LME Group, representing a 4% decrease year-on-year.
Whilst we recognise there is still work to do, we continue to work closely with our colleagues and stakeholders to ensure we foster a culture of inclusion for all employees across the LME Group. We look forward to expanding on our current initiatives and progressing further towards our Charter target in the 12 months ahead.
30% Club cross-company mentoring
The LME is taking part in the 30% Club cross-company mentoring programme. This programme provides women with the opportunity to enter into a mentoring relationship with more senior individuals from outside of the LME, with the aim of providing additional personal development.
The 30% Club cross-company mentoring programme is the world’s largest cross-company mentoring programme, having supported more than 9,000 mentors and mentees since its inception in 2014.
Diversity and Inclusion Forum
The LME is committed to creating an inclusive, supportive and open environment for all of its employees. Our forum, sponsored by our LME Clear CEO, aims to drive forward initiatives to recruit, develop and engage employees from the greatest possible pool of available talent in order to ensure that our business can benefit from a cross-section of experience, ideas and knowledge. Our employee-led diversity and inclusion programme is aimed specifically at ensuring that all employees are able to thrive at the LME.
Internal networks
To ensure we are hearing everyone's voice and to make people aware of the different perspectives we have at the LME, we have a number of employee networks that are employee-led. These groups include:
- LGBTQ+ Network
- Gender Diversity Network
- Race and Ethnicity Network
- Social Mobility Champion Group
- Disability and Mental Health Champion Group
The LME’s apprenticeship programme is designed to introduce recent school-leavers to the fundamentals of working in the commodity-trading sector and within a recognised investment exchange (RIE). It encourages applications from under-represented groups in our industry and in doing so is building a diverse junior talent pipeline for the LME and the sector more broadly.
Our apprentices will gain experience across the operations function within the LME while also studying for a CISI investment operations certificate. We currently have four apprentices enrolled on the programme, who will potentially stay on at the LME in junior roles or may move on to a member firm at the end of their two-year LME placement.
If you are interested in finding out more about our apprenticeship programme and how to apply, please contact our Resourcing team at recruitment@lme.com.
Since 2018, the LME has published its Gender Pay Gap Report, and we are pleased to do so, as we believe that the transparency created through gender pay gap reporting is a critical tool in understanding, managing and addressing perpetuating gender equality issues. We are also voluntarily reporting the figures for LME Group (the LME and its clearing house, LME Clear), which aligns with our commitment to transparency in our efforts to bring greater gender equality to our business and the wider industry.
LME Gender Pay Gap Report 2023 - published April 2024 (PDF)
LME Gender Pay Gap Report 2022 - published April 2023 (PDF)
LME Gender Pay Gap Report 2021 - published April 2022 (PDF)
LME Gender Pay Gap Report 2020 - published April 2021 (PDF)
LME Gender Pay Gap Report 2019 - published March 2020 (PDF)