{"id":404189,"date":"2020-07-16T10:30:53","date_gmt":"2020-07-16T14:30:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.investmentexecutive.com\/?p=404189"},"modified":"2020-07-17T16:25:25","modified_gmt":"2020-07-17T20:25:25","slug":"what-are-financial-firms-doing-to-fight-systemic-racism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.investmentexecutive.com\/news\/industry-news\/what-are-financial-firms-doing-to-fight-systemic-racism\/","title":{"rendered":"What are financial firms doing to fight systemic racism?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The May 25 killing of George Floyd incited protests and renewed calls to address<\/a> systemic anti-Black racism \u2014 the latest in a movement that officially coalesced as Black Lives Matter in 2013 and has been ongoing for decades.<\/p>\n

Protesters are primarily focused on police brutality, but the financial world is not without culpability in furthering anti-Black racism.<\/p>\n

For example, lenders in the U.S.<\/a>, and to a lesser extent<\/a> Canada, practised “redlining”<\/a> during the 20th century: denying mortgages to people in neighbourhoods where the majority of residents were Black people and minorities. Research shows<\/a> the effects persist today<\/a>.
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In the last decade, U.S. banks<\/a> and their lending subsidiaries<\/a> have spent millions<\/a> settling claims<\/a> alleging they discriminated against Black and Hispanic clients.<\/p>\n

On a more micro level, the U.S. divisions of two financial services firms each<\/a> fired<\/a> a high-ranking employee in the last two months after videos showed those employees engaging in actions widely regarded as racist.<\/p>\n

Since May 25, several financial firms have released anti-racism statements and made financial commitments in support of Black communities. Investment Executive <\/em>asked 20 banks, asset managers, insurers and advisory firms operating in Canada how they are addressing anti-Black racism, as well as what percentage of their employees and executives are Black.<\/p>\n

Black representation<\/h2>\n

Of the 20 firms, only two \u2014 BlackRock Inc. and Royal Bank of Canada \u2014 shared their percentage of Black employees, and only for the U.S. workforce.<\/p>\n

BlackRock reports that<\/a> 3% of senior leaders (directors and above) and 5% of its U.S. workforce are Black, and that its goal is to “double representation of our Black senior leaders and increase overall representation by 30%” by 2024. RBC reports that<\/a> Black people make up 5% of its U.S. workforce.<\/p>\n

According to the U.S. Census Bureau<\/a>, 13.4% of the U.S. population identifies as Black or African-American, with a further 2.8% as multiracial.<\/p>\n

In Canada, federally regulated firms are required to report<\/a> the representation levels of employees who self-identify as “Aboriginal peoples, members of visible minorities [VM] or persons with disabilities.” Nine of the 20 firms we spoke to are federally regulated<\/a>, and six \u2014 the banks \u2014 report that data publicly. For 2019 (2018 for BMO and Scotiabank):<\/p>\n