2026년 2월 17일 · Unknown · financial · 출처 Uk
David Solomon, the chief executive of Goldman Sachs, once said DEI was a ‘top priority’ at the bank - Kevin Lamarque/Reuters
Goldman Sachs is planning to scrap diversity rules for its board of directors amid a wider retreat of so-called diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in corporate America.
The Wall Street bank will reportedly remove requirements related to race, gender identity and sexual orientation from the guidelines used to select directors later this year.
David Solomon, the chief executive of Goldman Sachs, once said DEI was a “top priority” but the bank has recently cut back policies related to the issue.
Last year, it dropped a rule saying it would refuse to take companies public if they did not have diverse enough boards, saying the policy had “served its purpose”.
Five of the bank’s 14 board members are women and 12 members of the board are white.
Donald Trump has called DEI policies “un-American”. Elon Musk, whose rocket company SpaceX is preparing for possibly the year’s biggest Wall Street flotation, has called them “just another word for racism”. Goldman Sachs is one of the major banks seeking to be part of SpaceX’s listing.
Since 2003, shareholder documents published by Goldman Sachs have said it judges potential board members on four measures, including “diversity of viewpoints, backgrounds, experiences and other demographics”.
While the bank plans to keep a requirement for “diverse viewpoints, backgrounds and experiences”, it plans to remove the “other demographics” language, which relates to race, gender identity, ethnicity, sexual orientation, culture and nationality.
According to the Wall Street Journal, which reported the plans, the changes follow pressure from the conservative National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC). The NLPC has been pushing for a shareholder vote on dropping the initiatives.
Last year, only 2pc of Goldman Sachs shareholders supported a motion at its annual meeting calling for an audit of its race-based initiatives.
However, the bank has dropped diversity moves in recent months.
Last February it dropped a four-year-old policy refusing to take companies public if they did not have two diverse board members, including at least one woman.
It has also adjusted a diversity campaign called “One Million Black Women”, a $10bn (£7.4bn) programme to address racial and gender equality, removing references to race from its homepage.
Last year it dropped a reference to diversity and inclusion from annual filings.
In an email to staff in 2019, Mr Solomon said: “Diversity and inclusion is a top priority at Goldman Sachs.” However, the Trump administration has put pressure on companies to drop the initiatives.
Goldman Sachs did not comment.
View Comments