With my colleagues Peter Stein and Dean Singewald II, I recently coauthored an advisory for employers in the financial services industry: Dodd-Frank Standards Proposed for Assessing Diversity Policies and Practices of Covered Entities in the Financial Services Industry.

Following is an excerpt:

Six federal agencies ("Agencies") subject to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 ("Act") issued much-anticipated jointly proposed standards in accordance with Section 342 of the Act for assessing the diversity policies and practices of the entities that they regulate in the financial services industry. The proposed standards were published in the Federal Register on October 25, 2013. In issuing the proposed standards, the Agencies stated that their goal is to "promote transparency and awareness of diversity policies and practices" of the covered entities ("Covered Entities"), given the Agencies' recognition that greater diversity and inclusion "promotes stronger, more effective, and more innovative businesses, as well as opportunities to serve a wider range of customers."

The Agencies include the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the National Credit Union Administration, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the Securities and Exchange Commission. Each of these Agencies was required, pursuant to Section 342 of the Act, to establish an Office of Minority and Women Inclusion ("OMWI Office"), headed by a Director responsible for all Agency matters concerning diversity in management, employment, and business. In turn, each Director was required to establish standards for assessing the diversity policies and practices of the entities regulated by the Agency. The Covered Entities include financial institutions, investment banking firms, mortgage banking firms, asset management firms, brokers, dealers, financial services entities, underwriters, accountants, investment consultants, and providers of legal services.

Proposed Standards

The proposed standards are divided into four assessment areas: (i) organizational commitment to diversity and inclusion, (ii) workforce profile and employment practices, (iii) procurement and business practices (or supplier diversity), and (iv) practices to promote transparency of organizational diversity and inclusion. The standards for each assessment area are as follows …

Read the full advisory here.

Back to Workforce Bulletin Blog

Search This Blog

Blog Editors

Authors

Related Services

Topics

Archives

Jump to Page

Subscribe

Sign up to receive an email notification when new Workforce Bulletin posts are published:

Privacy Preference Center

When you visit any website, it may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. This information might be about you, your preferences or your device and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to. The information does not usually directly identify you, but it can give you a more personalized web experience. Because we respect your right to privacy, you can choose not to allow some types of cookies. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings. However, blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable information.

Performance Cookies

These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not know when you have visited our site, and will not be able to monitor its performance.