Wall Street banks Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase became the latest major companies to feel the heat from anti-DEI activists demanding they eliminate or shrink their “woke” policies, according to a report.
Two other major lenders, Bank of America and Citi, face accusations of discriminating against customers over their political and religious beliefs, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.
The activist groups – including the National Center for Public Policy Research, the National Legal and Policy Center and The Heritage Foundation – each own small stakes in the banks and proposed changes to their Diversity, Equity and Inclusion policies late last year, sources told The Journal.
The pressure on the banks is similar to the campaigns waged by conservative activist Robby Starbuck against a number of large US companies — including Walmart, John Deere and Harley Davidson — that pushed them to scrap their DEI initiatives.
“If only a fraction” of Goldman and JPMorgan staffers file lawsuits against DEI policies, the banks could hemorrhage billions of dollars in legal costs, NCPPR warned.
NCPPR is calling on Goldman to conduct a racial-discrimination audit of its DEI policies.
The bank currently has diversity quotas for companies it helps take public, a commitment to invest $10 billion in companies and organizations that benefit black women, hiring targets for black vice presidents and race-based networking groups, according to the Journal.
JPMorgan, meanwhile, has a global head of DEI and a program that picks suppliers based on their race and sex that could be on the chopping block if the shareholder proposals are voted through, the report said.
NLPC asked Goldman and JPMorgan to remove DEI initiatives as a factor that affects pay for their executives, including CEO David Solomon and CEO Jamie Dimon, respectively, according to the report.
Shareholders could have the chance to vote on the anti-DEI proposals before the banks’ annual meetings this spring.
Boards usually recommend shareholders vote against these proposals, and they typically do vote them down.
“We strongly believe that organizations benefit from diverse perspectives, and Goldman Sachs is committed to operating our programs and policies in compliance with the law,” a Goldman Sachs spokesperson told The Post in a statement.
JPMorgan Chase and Citi declined to comment.
The same activist groups have filed anti-DEI proposals against Apple and Starbucks, and none of them have won approval – each garnering just about 2% of shareholder support, according to the report.
The anti-DEI movement has grown stronger after a 2023 Supreme Court decision struck down race-based affirmative action practices in college admissions.
President Donald Trump’s election win provided right-leaning activists another boost. He has slammed DEI initiatives as “discriminatory” and argued in favor of a “merit-based” society.
On Monday, during his first day in office, Trump signed an executive order axing diversity programs across federal agencies, which he called “radical and wasteful.”
Some of the activist groups targeting the banks have led previous DEI take-downs.
NCPPR, for example, was a co-plaintiff in a December appeals court ruling that struck down the Nasdaq’s board diversity rules. In 2021, the SEC had approved two Nasdaq rules that set race and gender targets for the boards of its listed companies.
NCPRR and NLPC sent Goldman and JPMorgan the anti-DEI proposals, while Bank of America and Citi received proposals from NLPC and The Heritage Foundation asking them to audit whether they have surveilled customers based on their political and religious beliefs, according to the Journal.
The surveillance accusations come after Republican lawmakers slammed Bank of America and Citi for working with the FBI to identify people connected to the Jan. 6 attacks on the Capitol.
Bank of America has said it followed all applicable laws during its interactions with the Treasury Department and law enforcement.
