Introduction to the City Values Forum

The City Values Forum worked to embed the principles of trust and integrity in the financial and business services sector and to improve business cultures and behaviours.

It was formed in 2011 on the initiative of the Worshipful Company of Management Consultants, specifically Past Master Patrick McHugh and Liveryman Richard Finn, to deliver the recommendations of The Lord Mayor’s Initiative ‘Restoring Trust in the City’.  It was constituted as an informal working group reporting to successive Lord Mayors in his or her year in office. 

On behalf of The Lord Mayor of the City of London, the City Values Forum had three main priorities namely to:

• Research issues of trust, integrity, values and culture in the financial and business services sector;
• Develop, produce and give free access to best practice guidance, practical resource materials and training programmes to help Boards, executive management and individuals to encourage and embed the highest standards of behaviour in their businesses;
• Promote and disseminate the benefits of best practice and provide an open forum for the exchange of views on issues related to trust, integrity, values and culture in business through meetings, seminars, conferences and symposia.

Membership of the Forum was by invitation and sought to be representative of the business sectors and professions which make up the wider City business community, including organisations and individuals with specific skills and experience.

The members, who were unpaid volunteers, carried out the leadership and co-ordination of the work which was undertaken with specialist partner organisations and independently funded by sponsorship raised specifically for the programme.

The work of the Forum ceased on the death of its Chairman, Richard Sermon MBE, but by that time it had completed a substantial body of work.  The Worshipful Company of Management Consultants has undertaken to secure the materials produced by the Forum and continue to make them available through the Centre for Management Consulting Excellence.

Activities and outputs

The City Values Forum developed a series of best practice guides, practical resource materials and training programmes.  The outputs from the programme address the practical needs of individual employees, managers and Boards and can be accessed by clicking on the links below:

Governing Values: an essential guide for boards, enabling them to provide robust, rigorous leadership and effective oversight of how well their values are being ‘lived’ throughout the organisation.

Leading with Integrity: a unique training course and qualification designed to equip current and aspiring financial services managers with the core skills and knowledge to make decisions and achieve commercial objectives in an ethical and sustainable manner.

Performance with Integrity: a guide for senior management, HR professionals and line managers, showing how to embed values and their associated behaviours in every aspect of people management.

The City Obligation: a brief but powerful modern statement of personal commitment which can be used in a wide range of contexts to express what the individuals and organisations that work in the City of London stand for.

Governing Culture: Risk & Opportunity?  A guide to board leadership in purpose, values and culture.

Two practical tools, The Board Agenda and The Roadmap for Governing Culture, are available as separate downloads.