'Racial bias runs deep' at America's largest banks, study says
By Chauncey Alcorn, CNN Business
Updated 6:58 AM ET, Thu March 18, 2021
A just-released study conducted by the Committee for Better Banks and obtained by CNN Business found that people of color's chances of getting promoted to the highest levels of management or senior and executive leadership at some of the nation's most powerful consumer banks are much lower compared with their White peers. "Racial bias runs deep," the report concluded.
The report, titled "Advancing Racial Justice for Frontline Bank Workers," graded 13 major banks based on three categories: their willingness to disclose workforce demographic data, their levels of diversity across the job classification hierarchy, and how employees of color fare in career advancement relative to their White peers.
The study gave a final overall grade of "C" for diversity and inclusion to the collective financial services industry. The overall industry received "D's" for Black and Latino representation and a "C" for Asian representation. Asian Americans did better than Black and Latino workers throughout the report, with Black employees the worst for career advancement at the banks examined. The overall industry received "C's" for the Blacks and Latinos career advancement and a "B" for Asian Americans. "None of them performed that great," Weiner said of the banks, as none of the banks received an overall grade higher than a "C."
The top grades went to Bank of America, Capital One, Citibank, and JPMorgan Chase with a "C," meaning their diversity metrics are about that of the larger industry. The report gave the lowest grades to banks that provided incomplete data or refused to provide any. Only five of the 13 banks — Bank of America, TD Bank, Citibank, JPMorgan, and Capital One — provided all the stats necessary to complete the report. Several banks — Bank of the West, Fifth Third Bank, HSBC North America, PNC Bank, Santander, Truist Bank, US Bank, and Wells Fargo — all got overall "F's" because they declined to provide data on "the total number of employees within race groups at the company" and in some cases declined to break down their percentage of minority employees. "Because accountability begins with transparency, banks that did not disclose data were judged accordingly," the study authors wrote.
US Bank responded that CBB's findings are not accurate and do not reflect data the company has publicly released, including the 2020 Environmental, Social and Governance report available on its website, which does contain its workforce demographic statistics.
The study found that Black and Latino employees at all the banks face "strong unfavorable disparities" compared with Whites regarding career advancement, and a trend of "decreased diversity at higher employment levels within all eight banks." Citibank and Bank of America employees of color had the best chance of reaching the highest ranks compared to their White counterparts. Black Citibank employees had a 27% chance and Latino Citibank employees had a 23% chance compared with White employees. "Meanwhile, Black employees [at Citibank] are 2.3 times and Latino employees are 1.8 times more likely than White employees to hold entry level positions," the study authors wrote.
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Source: https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/18/investing/bank-diversity-racial-bias-study/index.html?mc_cid=bd9e101ffa&mc_eid=7b306e8d85.
