Goldman Sachs scraps diversity rule that ‘served its purpose’
Goldman Sachs has scrapped a diversity rule which barred it from advising all male, all white boards on company flotations.
The now-ditched rule stated the investment bank would only help a business sell its shares on a stock exchange if it had two board members that fitted diversity requirements – one of whom had to be a woman.
In an interview with the BBC, the bank’s vice chair Richard Gnodde said: “That policy was put in place to try and drive a change in behaviour and I think that’s happened.”
The policy was introduced in 2020 and Gnodde said it has now “served its purpose”.
He added: “I think what is important is that you have a diversity of views on that board and if you look at these companies they’ve all embraced diversity, it’s moved along.”
President Trump’s war on DEI
This change comes as President Trump’s administration takes a wrecking ball to diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) policies throughout the US.
Several federal government websites went dark, with others edited to remove mentions of gender last month after Trump pledged to clear out “gender ideology”.
The move follows Deloitte US on Monday announcing it would instruct employees working on government contracts to remove gender pronouns from their email signatures.
However, chief executive of Deloitte UK Richard Houston reaffirmed commitment to diversity initiatives in UK offices stating DEI “remains a priority”.
Data from think tank The Conference Board showed among the 500 largest US firms, the share of non-white directors was 26 per cent and the share of women directors was 34% in 2024.
As part of a flurry of executive orders following his inauguration, Trump signed an act to end “radical and wasteful government DEI programs”.
Google and Meta, the firm that owns Instagram and Facebook, became some of the first firms to peel back diversity policies, after Google abandoned its DEI recruitment targets.
Meta sent a memo to its staff last month, as first reported by Axios, stating it was scrapping diversity, equity and inclusion efforts due to a “shifting legal and policy landscape”.