ANZ makes it pay to address gender issue THE diversity agenda has spread to corporate procurement deals worth $30 billion, as ANZ Bank implements a policy of equal representation for men and women on its internal list of emerging executive talent. Representatives of the pioneering Male Champions of Change movement, set up by Sex Discrimination Commissioner Elizabeth Broderick, said they would work with their suppliers to encourage the advancement of more women into leadership roles. There are 14 participating MCCs and organisations that spend $30bn a year with more than 53,000 suppliers. ANZ chief executive Mike Smith and Future Fund director Stephen Fitzgerald, formerly chairman of Goldman Sachs Australia, launched the initiative yesterday. "What we like about this move is the impact it can have," Mr Fitzgerald told The Australian. It pushes diversity down into smaller and medium-sized businesses, but in a collaborative way. To drive what it calls the "supplier multiplier," MCC companies will incorporate their expectations on gender balance into their supplier codes of conduct. They will then implement at least one of four initiatives with suppliers, including collaboration with supplier recruitment firms to ensure gender balance in candidates put forward for vacant leadership positions, and communicating diversity expectations to large suppliers. They can also build the case for change among suppliers with a low representation of women in senior roles, or track and set goals for higher representation of female-owned or led businesses in their supply chains. Mr Smith said the diversity movement in Australia was "making things happen," unlike in Europe and the US. He said a list of ANZ's top emerging talent, which had a bias in favour of men, had been developed earlier this year. "I asked why it wasn't 50-50, and said they should come back when it was," the ANZ boss said. When the list came back, it had some really good talent. People just have to think about it. Both men agreed that professional services firms, such as law and investment banking, had been quite slow adopters. Part of this, they said, was due to the deal-driven work and inflexibility of deadlines. "In investment banks, the investment management and sales and trading businesses have responded well, but traditional mergers and acquisitions has not been as good," Mr Fitzgerald said. I think there's an expectation that if a client requests something by 7pm it will be on their desk at 7am the next day. It's hard to have a diverse team, or any team that has caring or parental responsibilities, when people are working through the night.