Investment banks seek gay students

The event in London, OUT in the City, was sponsored by Citigroup, Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB), Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Lehman Brothers, Morgan Stanley and UBS.

Senior bankers and representatives of banks' gay networks discussed what investment banks do and answered students' questions about the industry.

Students heard that most banks have well established gay networks and extend health insurance and pension benefits to same sex partners.

Topics discussed included hostility shown by some clients of banks. Mark Blythe, joint managing director of GTI, a careers publisher and organiser of the event, said banks encouraged staff encountering prejudice against their sexual orientation to deal with it without disrupting the business relationship.

The timing of the event is not coincidental. Next month the Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations will for the first time allow employees in the UK to sue if they face workplace discrimination because of their sexuality.

Some banks have made previous efforts to welcome gay employees. In 2000 JP Morgan became the first bank in Europe to openly champion gay staff when it sponsored the annual dinner of Stonewall, an organisation campaigning for gay rights.

Last year Citigroup began making presentations to members of Gay societies at universities and business schools in the UK.