‘How (not) to talk about banking and finance’ – breakfast with (Lord) George Bridges

This breakfast event will focus on how not to talk about ‘responsible business’, a recurring theme in our work. Every firm likes to talk about being ‘responsible’, but what do firms in banking and finance really mean when they talk about ‘responsible business’? Do they focus too much on their green credentials and their charity work, and not enough about the responsibility that comes with their day-to-day to business: how they operate, how they behave and how they treat their clients and the rest of society?

In his current role as an adviser to Ana Botín, executive chairman at Santander, George focuses on four aspects of responsible business: social and environmental responsibility, diversity, culture and behaviour, and customers – and how to embed responsibility across a global bank with nearly 200,000 employees.

George Bridges, more formally known as The Right Honourable Lord Bridges of Headley, started his career in politics in the early 1990s in Prime Minister John Major’s private office, and was chairman of the research department and campaign director for the Conservative Party. He ran Quiller Consultants, the consulting firm launched by Lord Hill from 2010 to 2013, before moving to Santander. He received a life peerage in 2015 and has since been a minister in the Cabinet Office, and was Minister for Brexit in the House of Lords until June 2017.