Half of financial services workers expect leaders to deprioritise ESG and DEI commitments

Financial services workers in the UK now expect their companies’ leaders to focus less on environmental, social and governance (ESG) and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) commitments in the future.

The findings from CRIF, the provider of consumer and credit information, showed that more than half (56%) of senior financial professionals in the UK now believe their leadership will place less focus on ESG over the next five years.

As part of ESG principles more generally, when asked about commitments to DEI, a similar proportion of professionals (54%) felt these will also become less of a focus in the near future. 

While losing focus on ESG initiatives raise clear concerns from ethical and environmental perspectives, most professionals acknowledged that ESG (69%) and DEI (68%) practices remain increasingly important to attracting and retaining customers.

The data informed the first of CRIF’s Banking on Banks report series for 2025 which explore the biggest changes to the financial services sector across the last decade.

While financial services professionals believe their leadership will become less focused on ESG and DEI principles, 45% of European consumers were also worried that financial institutions will backtrack on diversity and ethical principles due to changing attitudes in the US, rising to more than half (55%) for those aged 18 to 34.

With more than 2.7 billion tons of carbon emissions now attributable to the major banks of G7 countries – more than the emissions of Germany, France, the UK and Italy combined – the financial sector has understandably paid greater attention to ESG in recent years, with European banks having led this charge by offering greener products and solutions, improving energy management, as well as waste and water management.

Equally, in terms of DEI, initiatives such as the Women in Finance Charter created in 2016 now also exist to address the underrepresentation of women in senior managerial roles within the financial services sector in the UK.