Reps. Maxine Waters (D-CA) and Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-OH) recently forwarded correspondence to the nation’s 31 largest investment firms as a means of requesting diversity and inclusion data.
Waters, chair of the House Committee on Financial Services, and Beatty, chair of the Subcommittee on Diversity and Inclusion, requested information about each institution’s diversity and inclusion data and policies from 2016 through the present, focusing on workforce and board diversity; spending with diverse suppliers, including the use of diverse asset management firms; and challenges implementing diversity and inclusion policies and practices.
“We are making progress to ensure a comprehensive understanding of diversity and inclusion performance in the financial services industry,” the lawmakers wrote. “However, this cannot be achieved until organizations, especially the largest investment managers, disclose their diversity data and policies with the Offices of Minority and Women Inclusion, Congress and the public.”
The lawmakers indicated the request serves as part of an effort to maintain financial services sector accountability while providing the public with a complete picture of how firms meet commitments to diversity and inclusion.
“With these data requests to America’s largest investment firms, we are continuing to hold the financial services industry accountable for diversity and inclusion,” Waters said. “Generally, investment firms have failed to prioritize diversity and inclusion on their staffs and boards and have also failed to prioritize doing business with diverse-owned asset managers. Chair Beatty and I are requesting this information both to gain specific data about the diversity and inclusion policies, practices, and outcomes from this sector and to make clear that these firms will be held publicly accountable.”