Diversity and Inclusion

DDGI Limited (“DDGI”), as a member of the DDCAP Group™ the “Group” is an equal opportunities employer. This means it is our policy that there should be no discrimination of any employee, job applicant, customer, provider of services or member of the public because of one of the following protected characteristics: age, disability, gender reassignment, marital or civil partnership status, pregnancy and maternity, race, colour, nationality, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation.

We speak and write on matters relevant to the inclusion, acceleration and elevation of women in the workplace and engage proactively with educational programmes for women, both academic and professional.

In June 2020, HM Treasury published an updated list of Women in Finance Charter signatories on gov.uk amongst which DDGI was proud to be included as a recent signatory. The Charter was introduced by HM Treasury in March 2016 to ensure signatory organisations can work together to help build greater gender balance in financial services, reflecting the UK government’s aspiration to see greater gender balance throughout the industry.

Through signing the Charter, DDGI has committed to promoting gender diversity by:

  • Having a member of the senior executive team who is responsible and accountable for gender diversity and inclusion
  • Setting internal targets for gender diversity in senior management
  • Publishing progress annually against these targets in reports on the DDCAP Group website 
  • Having an intention to ensure the pay of the senior executive team is linked to delivery against internal targets for gender diversity

DDGI’s current targets within the Charter are to:

  • Achieve (or exceed) having at least 50% women in senior roles;

Natalie Morse, Executive Director and Company Secretary, has been appointed as the Senior Management Team member responsible for DDGI’s diversity and inclusion work.

Remuneration for members of our senior executive team is determined against financial and non-financial objectives, which are set annually through the Group’s formal Appraisal and Interim Review processes.  The non-financial objectives will include a commitment to increasing the diversity of our workforce.

Stella Cox CBE, Managing Director commented that: “DDGI’s admittance as a signatory to Women in Finance Charter is an exciting and welcome development for the DDCAP Group. As a female executive mandated for more than 20 years to lead a financial services business it will be no surprise that a focus on diversity and inclusion has been at the heart of our organisation for a very long time. However we must not be complacent and, having established our internal policies, commitments and ambitions, our signatory status now affords us an unprecedented and privileged opportunity to collaborate with other financial sector firms who share our values so as to accelerate our endeavours and make public disclosure of our intentions, setting targets that will continue to challenge us as we progress.”

2025 annual review of DDGI’s targets:

The Company continues to make good progress with improving female representation with 50% of our Associate Director and Management positions currently being held by women. However, DDGI Limited has yet to reach its target of achieving at least 50% of women in senior roles (with the appointment of Associate Director and Director being our current definition of ‘senior management’).

We are proactively supporting the development of more senior career pathways for those currently at Manager level, elevating their skill sets, where possible, through external training opportunities to prepare them for opportunities for promotion to Associate Director. As a responsible employer we are very cognisant of the accountability that such elevation brings, and we continue to take great care to maintain our awareness of individual perspectives on career progression and elevation.

Our business strategy remains unchanged, and we aim to manage our client relationships through our local representative offices rather than from London, increasing our profile as a national employer and supporting the reduction of our carbon footprint in accordance with associated targets that we endeavour to comply with. As we progress with the growth of our regional presence, we will look to expand our WIFC reporting scope for this purpose.

In addition to the progress made within our infrastructure internally, we are immensely proud that we continue to sponsor the DDCAP Group™ Bursary, which is amongst several strategic partnership initiatives that DDCAP shares with Cambridge IFA in support of Gender Equality, enabling us to champion the empowerment of female leadership within the Islamic finance sector. This bursary is awarded annually to two of the many, exceptional women working within Islamic finance, and included in the WOMANi Annual List, to support their participation at the Cambridge IFA Leadership Programme.