Our statement on BLM

The CIOB is not, as an organisation, given to political positioning but are clear about where we stand in relation to the Black Lives Matter movement.

The CIOB has, over the years, looked at bigger issues in society and examined what impact those issues have and how to improve things. We have tackled difficult yet important things like corruption, modern slavery, mental health and social mobility.

We now need to be explicit that we oppose discrimination. The CIOB is a global community, with members around the world.  We support the Black Lives Matter movement and stand with the black community. But we cannot condone the illegal acts and the destruction of property carried out by some demonstrators.

We are an inclusive organisation, always, for every community. We want to see our organisation, our industry and wider society supporting this movement and all ethnic minorities.

The first piece of work to do is acknowledge where we are as an organisation and make sure we are in the right place to effect any meaningful change we can in-house, and then potentially step into more work externally, hopefully collaboratively, to support the movement in more visible ways.

We are open to learning, changing and growing. Our Corporate Plan makes a commitment to support a “Talented Community”, including improving the diversity of our membership. In addition to prioritising that work, we will look for opportunities to use our platforms to share and amplify voices of people of colour. We will examine how we can meaningfully and usefully understand more about discrimination and the impact that it has.

We will take the time to work with colleagues and with our community to make and support the changes that are needed.