Stonewall has produced its new list of top 100 employers for the gay and lesbian community. Financial services employers are on it.

Below, in order of desirability are the top employers for gay financial services professionals in the UK, plus their ranking overall. Notably, financial services employers don’t appear particularly gay friendly (unlike local councils and the police force): there are only 7 on the list and just 3 are investment banks.

1. Ernst & Young (1st overall)

Rationale: E&Y has EYGLES, the Ernst & Young employee network for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender staff, run by Liz Bingham, an openly gay woman

2. Barclays (3rd overall)

Rationale: Barclays’ efforts seem to be focused on its retail bank rather than BarCap. Stonewall notes that: “When results from the 2009 employee opinion survey indicated significantly lower satisfaction scores from LGB colleagues within Barclays Retail Business Banking Technology (RBBT), the executive team agreed the need for a specific programme to address the issue."

3. Goldman Sachs (6th overall)

Rationale: Goldman staff have participated in teamwork events focused on the lesbian and gay community. In 2011, these included: a day spent with the service users of Age UK’s older LGBT project.

4. Lloyds Banking Group (18th overall)

Rationale: Unclear.

5. Morgan Stanley (45th overall)

Rationale: Morgan Stanley introduced an LGB-specific, ‘reverse mentoring’ programme (where junior staff coach senior colleagues) in July 2011.  The bank also has a network: Gay and Lesbian Employees at Morgan Stanley (GLEAMS) and an ‘LGB Allies’ initiative, “designed to facilitate two-way development and communication for both the manager and the GLEAMS member.”

=5. RBS (joint 45th overall)

Rationale: Unclear

6. JPMorgan (83rd overall)

Rationale: Unclear

7. Pricewaterhousecoopers (100th overall)

Rationale: Unclear