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Diversity, equity & inclusion

The Walker Series Annual Lecture with Baroness Amos

We're proud to introduce NatWest Group’s inaugural Walker Lecture. For the first in this annual series, we welcomed Baroness Amos as the lecture’s key speaker.

The Walker Series, launched in October as part of Black History Month, has been named after Maggie Lena Walker, the first black female bank president, and founder of St. Luke Penny Savings Bank. Disabled by paralysis and a wheelchair user later in life, Walker also became an advocate for people with disabilities.

For 2020 we were delighted to welcome Baroness Amos, Master of University College Oxford, a Labour life peer and the first Black woman to serve in a British Cabinet as Secretary of State for International Development. 

During the lecture Baroness Amos spoke about 2020: has it been the most important year for race relations of our time? What does it mean for companies? Who needs to be part of this fight for greater equality? And how to maintain optimism without feeling overwhelmed.

Baroness Amos also spoke about our report ‘Banking on Racial Equality; A Roadmap for Positive Change’ and the commitments we’ve made to help make a meaningful, positive difference for our Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic colleagues, customers and communities. 

Watch highlights from our first Walker Series Lecture with Baroness Amos

An advocate for issues of equality and social justice, Baroness Amos' career has spanned local and national government in the UK as well as global leadership in her role as Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs at the United Nations. Baroness Amos also served as UK High Commissioner to Australia and between 1994 and 1998 worked extensively in South Africa. Her work in the voluntary and charity sector and in non-governmental organisations has gone hand in hand with her policy and political work.

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