Banks woo gay recruits in Asia
While multi-national corporations have been actively recruiting gay, lesbian and bisexual staff in the UK for some time, the policy has now been adopted in some Asian nations.
The Financial Times reports that American investment bank Lehman Brothers held a recruietment event for LGB students at Hong Kong university and is considering similar events in Singapore.
Homosexual relations are legal in Hong Kong. Despite recent debate about the issue in Singapore they remain against the law.
Other major institutions such as Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs and UBS are also targeting gay graduates in Hong Kong, the FT reports.
Christopher Jackson, a senior vice-president for Lehman Brothers in Tokyo, told the paper:
“The way we’re tackling this in Asia certainly emanates to some extent from the fact that we’re a US firm based in New York.”
Last year British gay equality organisation Stonewall launched its third annual guide for LGB graduates, Starting Out, sponsored by Credit Suisse.
Multi-nationals such as American Express, Abn Amro, Barclays, BP, Citi, GlaxoSmithKline, IBM, Time Warner and UBS advertised their gay-friendly credentials in an attempt to attract the best talent.
