RIA Group Supports Diversity Reporting Bill
The bill, up for debate Tuesday, would allow agencies like the SEC to require large firms to report diversity data.
The House Financial Services Committee on Tuesday plans to debate and propose changes to H.R. 2123, the Diversity and Inclusion Data Accountability and Transparency Act, which would amend the Dodd-Frank Act to allow agencies like the Securities and Exchange Commission to require regulated entities with more than 100 employees to provide information to the Office of Minority and Women Inclusion (OMWI).
Karen Barr, president of the Investment Adviser Association in Washington, a trade group for RIAs, urged passage of the bill Monday in a letter to committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters, D-Calif.
“The ability to measure progress is critically important,” Barr wrote. “For this reason, enactment of the Diversity and Inclusion Data Accountability and Transparency Act would constitute a significant foundational step in addressing diversity in the asset management industry. The IAA urges you and Committee members to support enactment of the Act.”
The association, Barr wrote, “recognizes that the investment adviser profession has a long way to go in matters of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Our community must address the issues that have resulted in lack of diversity and must make meaningful progress towards change.”
Waters and Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, chair of the Subcommittee on Diversity and Inclusion, asked for data in mid-March from the nation’s 31 largest investment firms — including BlackRock, Charles Schwab, Fidelity and Vanguard — on their diversity and inclusion practices.
Other bills to be debated Tuesday include H.R. 1187, the ESG Disclosure Simplification Act. The committee has also slated votes on two resolutions: one to establish the Task Force on Artificial Intelligence in the Committee on Financial Services, and another to establish the Task Force on Financial Technology.