EVENT RECAP - Financial Exclusion and Racial Justice in the UK Financial Sector
We were proud to present at the launch of Rooted Finance and Money A+E’s Racial Justice Network in Finance called Equity in Finance.
ClearView Research was commissioned to conduct a rapid literature review as part of this initiative, exploring the systemic barriers to financial inclusion for Black and minority ethnic communities in the UK.
Hosted and sponsored by Uma Kumaran MP who gave the keynote speech, the event brought together policymakers, researchers, community leaders, and financial professionals to shine a light on these entrenched inequalities. A heartfelt thank you to Uma for her support, and to Debbie Weekes-Bernard, Deputy Mayor of London, for her powerful keynote speech on the urgency of this work for a fairer, more inclusive London and a more equitable UK.
What We Found
Our review highlights persistent inequalities in access to credit, insurance, and mortgages. One key insight is the “ethnicity premium” - the higher costs Black and minority ethnic consumers often face when accessing financial services, unrelated to income or risk, but driven by postcode profiling, opaque credit systems, and algorithmic bias.
This is about systemic rather than individual discrimination. The five key challenges identified were:
Discriminatory lending: Ethnic minority applicants face worse lending terms, even with similar financial profiles.
Financial deserts: Bank closures hit the most diverse areas hardest.
Algorithmic bias: AI-driven lending models disproportionately reject minority applicants, even when income and creditworthiness are comparable..
Lack of leadership diversity: Teams that lack diversity create out-of-touch products.
Data gatekeeping: Financial institutions not sharing desegmentalised data for analysis of different ethnic minority groups. exclusion.
So What’s Missing?
We also uncovered gaps in the sector, including:
Limited data on Sharia-compliant and ethical finance options
Poor customer profiling that ignores demographic shifts
Underinvestment in Black-led banks and credit unions
Weak leadership pipelines for diverse communities
A lack of innovation in culturally relevant financial products
ClearView Research are honoured to contribute to this urgent conversation, but as the event made clear, there is more to do, from investing in research and data transparency, to transforming how financial institutions operate, who they serve, and who gets to lead.