UK bankers group urges dropping 'racist' insinuation in Black Market

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
5 Aug 2023 20:06

The industry's own recommendations for how to avoid being racist have drawn criticism.

The Bank of England building in London (AFP)

An umbrella group representing prominent UK bankers has stated that the word "black market" should not be used since it is racist and has suggested instead the more accepting term "illegal market".

Concerned that numerous terminology and phrases in current usage could be regarded as offensive or discriminatory, UK Finance, a lobby group that represents the interests of British banks and financial-services corporations, has released a list of phrases that banks and financial institutions should avoid using.

In addition to the phrase "black market", UK Finance's inclusion guide, published in 2021, recommends replacing the term "black" in "black hat", which refers to an unauthorized user on a network in cyber security, with "unethical". Additionally, the lobby organization is insistent that "sanity check" be changed to "functional test" so as to avoid a way to "infer a level of disability."

"Two years ago, we issued a report in conjunction with Ernst & Young and Microsoft that looked at the issue of language in technology and cyber security," a spokesperson for UK Finance said, as quoted by The Telegraph.

David Postings, the CEO of UK Finance, claims that the lobby organization takes linguistic issues in society "extremely seriously".

However, not everyone has praised the initiative. The guidance is "woke nonsense", Tory MP Nigel Mills said, adding, "You'd think bank bosses would have their focus on the country's economy rather than this."

Earlier this year, some MPs criticized London Mayor Sadiq Khan for ordering city employees to stop using terms like "ladies and gentlemen" and encouraged them to use "people" or "Londoners" instead.