2023-11-08 20:48:55
Millions to repair the mistakes of the past. This Wednesday, the Lloyd’s of London insurance market, one of the oldest institutions in the London financial center, says it wants to spend tens of millions of pounds in the fight against racial inequalities after research pointing to its ” important role” in the transatlantic slave trade.
This announcement “responds to research carried out by Black Beyond Data, based at (American) Johns Hopkins University”, which “clearly shows that Lloyd’s (…) played an important role in the establishment of trafficking and transatlantic slave economy,” according to a press release on Wednesday.
Symbol of the City of London, the group is, with origins dating back to the 17th century, one of the oldest institutions in this financial center.
This “was part of a sophisticated network of activities and financial interests which made these activities possible”, added in its press release Lloyd’s of London, which had already asked for forgiveness in 2020 for a “terrible and shameful.”
52 million pounds
Lloyd’s on Wednesday published “Inclusive Futures”, a program which “includes a series of active interventions covering recruitment, research, investments, charitable giving (…) spanning the next decade and beyond”, measures to reduce racial inequalities.
The group plans to invest a total of 52 million pounds (60 million euros) in this context, a spokesperson confirmed to AFP.
But this sum is “nothing at all” and it resembles “a communications operation”, denounced Kehinde Andrews, professor specializing in issues affecting the African diaspora at Birmingham City University, to several bodies. British press, deploring in particular the absence of direct reparations.
“We know we cannot erase the past. But we can do something to combat the inequalities we see today,” argued Mark Lomas, a Lloyd’s manager, quoted in the group’s press release.
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