Improving Corporate Governance Through Diversity Act of 2019
Floor Speech
Mr. Speaker, this Congress, our committee has held multiple hearings focused on strengthening diversity and inclusion in our financial system and beyond, including a full committee hearing examining America's boardrooms.
Witness testimony makes clear that women and minorities are underrepresented in leadership positions throughout the financial services sector. This bill will help move companies in the right direction.
We know that women hold just 26 percent of senior management positions and only 15 percent of executive positions in the finance industry. These figures have stayed relatively flat over the past decade.
Corporate leaders know the value of having a wide range of perspectives and experiences in the boardroom and are being proactive in their efforts to diversify leadership in the financial services industry. Last year, 91 percent of board directors reported taking steps to increase diversity. Just last month, Citigroup announced the promotion of Jane Fraser to lead Citigroup's global consumer banking, setting her up to be the first female CEO of a major bank.
The private sector is working proactively to achieve more diversity, and this bill will give us even more data to measure progress, including with respect to hiring veterans. Companies should also work to help our servicemen and -women reacclimate into civilian life. This bill will reinforce the work that industry is already doing to help employ our veterans.
Witnesses who testified before the committee believe that the disclosures in this bill are a step in the right direction, in part because a large percentage of companies already do it annually. In fact, more than 40 percent of publicly traded companies already disclose information related to the gender, race, and ethnic makeup of their boards.
I thank Congresswoman Maloney and Congressman Meeks for working on this bill. I am grateful to the ranking member and the chairman of the Committee on Financial Services. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
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Mrs. WAGNER. Mr. Speaker, I urge all my colleagues to support H.R. 5084, the Improving Corporate Governance Through Diversity Act of 2019.
I yield back the balance of my time.
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