The vice chair of Goldman Sachs has announced the bank has axed a diversity rule which excludes white men.
As a result of legal challenges and political scrutiny, the bank has dropped its IPO board diversity requirement entirely, although it has maintained that it will seek to promote diverse leadership.
The banking giant’s decision comes as major companies across the US retreat from their diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives following pressure from Donald Trump’s administration.
The move has followed similar actions by other corporate giants, including Deloitte, Google, Meta and Amazon, who have all recently scaled back or eliminated their diversity programmes.
Goldman said it would continue encouraging diverse leadership
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Goldman said it would continue encouraging diverse leadership, despite ending the formal requirement that had been in place since 2020.
Five years ago, the giant announced it would only underwrite IPOs for US and Western European companies that had at least one diverse board member, defined as a non-white male.
The following year, the bank strengthened these requirements, mandating that companies must have at least two diverse directors – and one of these directors had to be a woman.
Goldman’s reversal follows a US court ruling that struck down Nasdaq’s requirement for companies to disclose board diversity data and maintain diverse boards.
“As a result of legal developments related to board diversity requirements, we ended our formal board diversity policy,” Goldman said in a statement.
The bank emphasised it would continue to support diversity initiatives internally, maintaining that diverse boards benefit corporate governance and performance.
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Deloitte US has become the latest firm to alter its diversity policies, instructing staff working on government contracts to remove pronouns from email signatures by February 7.
The consultancy firm also announced plans to end its DEI programme and discontinue its annual diversity report.
Google recently scrapped its goal to hire more employees from historically underrepresented groups, whilst reviewing its DEI initiatives.
Meta Platforms announced in an internal memo it was ending its DEI programmes, including those for hiring, training and supplier selection.
The move has followed similar actions by other corporate giants, including Deloitte, Google, Meta and Amazon
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Amazon joined the trend, telling employees it was “winding down outdated programmes and materials” related to representation and inclusion.
Trump used executive orders last month to reverse DEI policies in federal government, requiring staff to report colleagues suspected of continuing DEI efforts “in disguise”.
Government employees have received warnings of “adverse consequences” for failing to report those still carrying out DEI measures.
While these orders do not directly apply to private companies, Trump has asked the US attorney general’s office to explore ways to extend them to the private sector.