Interbank Appoints New Co-Chair

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Earlier this month, Interbank voted on, and appointed a new Co-Chair to take us forward into 2018 Huge congratulations to Paresh Ravat on this appointment.

Parish Ravat; Paresh is a Senior Collateral Analyst in Global Markets at BNP Paribas, based in London.

Paresh is activley involved with the D&I networks and has been involved with Interbank as the events manager and elsewhere for many years. We warmly welcome Paresh to share the Co-Chair role with Henry Chen.

We would also like to say a huge thanks to Simon Hau, the out-going Co-Chair for his contribution to the Forum. Thank you Simon!

LGBT rights in the United Kingdom

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Today marks a very special occasion in the history of LGBT rights in the United Kingdom. On this day 50 years ago, the British government passed a law to decriminalise homosexuality. 

Many of our colleagues and friends will be too young to remember the challenges LGBT+ people faced before the law was changed. Similarly, many more of us often forget the struggles LGBT endured before the ban was lifted and take for granted the lifestyles we enjoy today. However, we should never forget the many courageous individuals who fought for LGBT+ equality and influenced the changes we enjoy today, we have much to thank them for. 

Whilst we mark five decades of LGBT equality here in the UK, let us also recognise that in many countries in the world, life for LGBT+ people is very different and they do not enjoy the same levels of equality and freedoms that we have here. Changes announced in the USA yesterday also underpin how quickly things can change, so its important that each of us continues to champion diversity, inclusion and equality in as many ways as we can. 

 

Red Run for World AIDS Day Is a Resounding Success

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The annual ‘Red Run for World AIDS Day’ took place on Sunday at Victoria Park in East London. The event, organised by local HIV charity, Positive East, attracted over 300 runners who competed in either a 5K or 10K race. Runners raised money to support services for people with HIV across the capital whilst the costs to stage the race were met by the Interbank LGBT Forum.

“The Red Run is our flagship fundraising event which raises much needed funds to support the many thousands of people with HIV in London’, said Mark Santos, the Charity’s Director. ‘It is always great to see other HIV charities taking part as well as we made a deliberate decision to make the event really inclusive. Many of the people we help also get support from different organisations so we really are working together’

Public Health England report that now there are over 100,000 people living with HIV in the UK and nearly half of them live in London. The Red Run for World AIDS Day saw participants running for the National AIDS Trust, Food Chain, WLGMP and GMFA charities as well as Positive East.

‘We haven’t got the final calculation in yet but we expect the race to raise around £20,000. Because there are more people infected than ever before, demand for services has never been greater, added Mark Santos. ‘So a big thank you to all those who ran and all those who showed up to cheer them on. There was a great atmosphere in the park and fortunately, the weather was mainly forgiving!

Positive East has been supporting people living with and affected by HIV for nearly 25 years and are the largest HIV charity in London. Every year they help over 35,000 people face to face and a further 40,000 on their website, www.positiveeast.org.uk

Interbank sponsors the Positive East Red Run 2015

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The Interbank LGBT Forum are pleased to announce that they are supporting Positive East this year by sponsoring their Red Run for World AIDS Day.

The run takes place on Sunday 29th November in Victoria Park and offers both 5 and 10 kilometre routes. For more information please see www.redrun.org.uk

As an incentive to encourage Interbank Members to sign up and support this great cause, anybody signing up and entering the code “Interbank” upon application will receive a 20% discount on the entry fee. Please do sign up if you’re interested in taking part in the Red Run and encourage others to support the event.

For more information on Positive East and the work they do, visit their website: www.positiveeast.org.uk