A group of lawmakers recently urged the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to conduct a comprehensive study on asset management disparities.
U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee, and U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) recently joined 11 colleagues in forwarding correspondence to Comptroller General of the United States Gene L. Dodaro regarding the request, which stems from the lack of progress the nation’s federally managed pension funds have made in boosting representation of diverse asset management firms over the years.
“Diversity within the asset management industry is not only a matter of fairness for professionals in the financial services sector, but it has wide-ranging impacts on the millions of Americans whose $115 trillion are under management,” the legislators wrote. “It has long been documented that minority- and women-owned (MWO) asset management firms perform as well as their peers, yet nearly 99 percent of assets continue to be managed by White, male-led firms.”
Despite congressional and administrative efforts to address disparities limiting MWO asset managers’ opportunities, the legislators maintain that there has been little to no progress made over the last 10 years.
“We request that the GAO conduct a study on the major asset classes in which selected federal entities invest; the use of MWO firms, with a breakdown by race, ethnicity, and gender; data available to and used by the federal entities that could inform their use of diverse asset managers; processes federal entities use to make investment decisions and the extent to which the processes incorporate leading diversity practices or are part of a broader diversity, inclusion and equity strategy, including the diversity of fund adviser selection committees.”
The lawmakers also requested the GAO evaluate a series of recommendations to improve asset management diversity and inclusion.