Strength in diversity. Photo: OregonDOT, Flickr.

There are just 73 black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) directors out of 1,454 on boards across the top 150 FTSE companies in the UK, according to the latest Board Index from search firm Spencer Stuart.

The survey also found that just 23 of the 73 BAME directors are British citizens, representing 1.6% of all directors; and where there is a female chairman of the board, 39.5% of non-executives will also be women.

Spencer Stuart’s report noted that, as in the US, UK corporates with female chairmen (there are six in the 150 FTSE companies included in the research) have an above average number of female non-executive directors.

The report said: “The government-backed review into the representation of women in leadership positions in FTSE 350 companies, led by Dame Helen Alexander and Sir Philip Hampton, will undoubtedly inject a fresh sense of urgency into the topic, just as the Davies Review did for women on boards.”

Spencer Stuart found that women accounted for 24.4% of the board positions in the companies it examined, well behind the position it found in Norway (44.1%), France (38.8%), Sweden (39%), Finland (29.9%) and Germany and Italy (both 26.4%).