(Reuters) -Bank of America has scrapped some of its diversity initiatives as it navigates a new business climate under U.S. President Donald Trump.
The second largest U.S. lender dropped references to its diversity hiring goals and a rule requiring hiring managers to consider a diverse group of candidates, according to an annual filing on Tuesday.
The changes depart from policies laid out in the bank’s proxy statement last year.
“We evaluate and adjust our programs in light of new laws, court decisions and, more recently, executive orders from the new administration,” a bank spokesperson said.
“Our goal has been and continues to be to make opportunities available for all of our clients, shareholders, teammates and the communities we serve.”
Several businesses have softened their stance on diversity, equity and inclusion in the last few weeks after Trump took office. The new administration has taken steps to roll back DEI programs in the federal government and the private sector.
Citigroup dropped a requirement to have a diverse slate of candidates for job interviews, while Goldman Sachs ended its policy of taking public only those companies that have at least two diverse board members.
“We’ve always been a bank of opportunity … we’ve got a very diverse company in terms of representation from economic strata, all races and all ethnicities,” BofA CEO Brian Moynihan told a conference earlier Tuesday. “Once they get in, the opportunity is there.”
Last year, the bank promoted 387 employees to managing director roles in 2024, more than half of whom were women and people of color.
(Reporting by Lananh Nguyen in New York and Niket Nishant in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Saeed Azhar; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri and Shounak Dasgupta)
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