House Financial Services Committee chairwoman Maxine Waters and House Financial Services Subcommittee on Diversity and Inclusion chairwoman Joyce Beatty sent letters to ask 37 banks to quantify their inclusion and diversity policies from 2015 to 2019. The letters were sent to bank holding companies with more than $50 billion in assets
The inquiry of the Financial Services Committee was prompted by the data released by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) which reveals that the representation of women in the management ranks of financial services firms remained almost unchanged from 2007 to 2015.
The letters were sent to companies with investment banking arms including American Express Co., UBS Americas Holding LLC, Credit Suisse Holdings Inc., The Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Bank of New York Mellon Corp.
Waters and Beatty want financial companies to prioritize diversity and to share their diversity data and policies with the Office of Minority and Women Inclusion, Congress and the public.
The Committee wants information related to demographics. These include race, ethnic identity and gender of employees; employee compensation by ethnicity, race and gender; and the amount of budget and number of staff dedicated to diversity initiatives. In addition, the Committee wants the following data: company-wide diversity practices and policies, outreach to diverse organizations, demographic data of corporate boards, gender pay equity, efforts to close any identified gaps and challenges faced in the implementation of diversity initiatives.
