Transcripts For CSPAN Financial Regulators Testify On Impact Of Regulations On Diversity And... 20240712

Testify on the impact of regulations and efforts to create more diversity in the Financial Sector. This hearing is just under three hours. The subcommittee will come to order. Without objection, the chair has authorized to declare a recess of the subcommittee at any time. Without objection, members of the full committee not on this subcommittee are authorized to participate in todays hearing. Members are reminded to keep their video function on at all time, even when they are not recognized by the chair. Members are also reminded that they are responsible for muting and unmuting themselves, and to mute themselves after they finished speaking. Consistent with the regulations of House Resolution 965, staff will only mute members and witnesses as appropriate when not recognized to avoid inadvertent background noise. Members are reminded that all house rules pertaining to order and decorum applies to this remote hearing. This hearing is entitled Holding Financial regulators accountable for diversity and inclusion, respective from the offices of minority and women inclusion. I now recognize myself for four minutes to give an opening statement. Todays hearing focus is Holding Financial regulators accountable for diversity and inclusion, from the perspective of the offices of minority and women inclusion. Our country is facing three pandemics covid19 and the economic pandemic and the fight for social justice pandemic. These challenges have reshaped our work and personal relationships in unprecedented ways. Todays hearing is totally virtual and i appreciate all of our witnesses and members for participating. Im hopeful we will be able to strike a balance between historical context, the demand for greater industry inclusiveness and transparency, as well as highlights accomplishments for performance. 2020 marks the 10th anniversary of the enactment of the dodd frank wall street reform and Consumer Protection act. Through the leadership of our chairwoman, chairwoman Maxine Waters, members of the democratic caucus, and countless diversity and inclusion stakeholders, section 342 of dodd frank was devised to serve as a catalyst to enhance diversity and inclusion performance at a Financial Regulation agency. Prior to the enactment of dodd policymakers and stakeholders lack access to performance data to transparently review diversity practices. 2008he financial crisis of disproportionately impacted low income americans and communities of color. Recognize the Important Role Diverse Communities play in the United States action. Took action to diversify the Financial Service sector to help prevent the abusive and discriminatory practices that helped cause the crisis from happening again. During the 116th congress, i along with my colleagues have reminded all diversity and inclusion is a business imperative. It improves the bottom line and is essential for closing the racial wealth gap. It Breathes New Life into how Financial Institutions and the agencies evaluate, access and expand inclusiveness. Ae recent analysis highlights persistent lack of racial diversity in senior roles at the regulatory agencies. Our work has pointed to systemic racism and the need for us to be intentional in our inclusiveness, contrary to President Trumps comments. Systemic racism is a National Crisis that impedes the full inclusion of Diversity Community and our economy. In june, Jerome Powell acknowledged structural discrimination exists in the United States Economy Today and impedes the economic success of communities of color. Its highlighted that Asset Managers and brokerdealers who contract with the feds in the pandemic relief effort must meet inclusion requirements. Just as we have charged the banks and other Financial Institutions to discuss and share regarding how they have improved the workplace and diversity practices. We are eager to hear from you regarding your agencys performance, transparency and accountability are critical to achieving a sustainable performance. We recognize your limited authority and have informed each theme agencies that it is that this committee will be Holding First in line for accountabilities on diversity and inclusion performance. In closing, we are resolute and determined to see your agencies achieve both the letter and spirit of dodd frank. The success of our economy depends on the full inclusion of all communities. The chair now recognizes the Ranking Member, the gentlewoman from missouri and my friend, congresswoman wagoner, for five minutes. Rep. Wagoner it is good to see you and most of our committee today. I appreciate you holding this hearing. I would like to thank all the witnesses for testifying today. We look forward to hearing from each of you on the work that the offices of minority and women inclusion have been doing to successfully diversify the workforces of our financial regulators. Over the past year, the subcommittee has held more hearings on the benefits of Diverse Workforce. Studies Show Companies with Diverse Workforces prepare better compared to their less diverse competitors. Diverse firms proved to be more innovative. It is in a companys best interest to hire and develop a Diverse Workforce and create an Inclusive Work environment. Federal agencies like the private sector will realize many benefits from a Diverse Workforce. Diversity and inclusion, while related, are separate issues that must be addressed. Although a company or federal agency may be able to increase recruitment, it is equally as important to focus efforts on making sure the environment is included for retention to fully realize the benefits of a Diverse Workforce. Studies continue to show minorities and women leave Financial Firms at a higher rate than their white male counterparts. To improve the rate of retention, companies and federal agencies must adjust their culture and promote the development of diverse talent. This requires a pronounced commitment for leadership and a specific action plan to increase inclusion. In order to be most effective, Company Policy changes should be implemented from the top down and have buyin at all levels of management. When i speak of topdown policy changes being up limited, a prime example is in the testimony. She meets regularly with active brooksoller and others to make sure they fulfill their diversity and inclusion. Its buyin like this at the senior level that makes a big difference. Director meeting regularly with an agency head or a chief diversity officer having constant communication with the ceo, that relationship fosters a strong commitment to successfully recruit, retain and promote minorities and women. The benefits of a Diverse Workforce are wellestablished and the private sector has developed a set of best practices to recruit and retain a Diverse Workforce and prioritize inclusion. Federal agencies would also benefit from implementing the strategies. Some of the best practices we have learned about in hearings this congress, that increased retention rates improved the inclusivity of a workplace includes vitae Financial Literacy training. Transparency regarding salaries and emotion opportunities. Mentoring and sponsorship programs. Employee Resource Groups. Training andias Flexible Work hours for working mothers. Our goal should be to identify the successful strategies for recruiting and retaining minorities and women, and explore how Government Agencies can better implement those strategies within their own structures. I look forward, madame chairwoman, so learning about the work you all have been doing today. I am proud of this committee for examining these important issues. I thank you and i yield back, madam chair. You, veryty thank much. The chair now recognizes the chair of the full committee, the gentlewoman from california, the author of dodd frank 343, congresswoman Maxine Waters. Rep. Waters thank you very much, chair lady. Assembled leaders of the office of minority and women inclusion, known as omwi, from the financial regulatory agencies to discuss their progress and challenges in fulfilling their diversity and inclusion over stagnation. 10 years ago, the dodd frank wall street reform act was authored. Watchdogsampions and of our Financial Services agencies for diversity and inclusion. On the 10th anniversary of dodd frank, protests across the country calling for an end to systemic racism, this hearing is long overdue. I want to thank you for the work you have been doing, giving oversight. You have been taking on this responsibility and i am so appreciative of your for it. The Financial Services regulators play a role in removing racial and gender ensure itnd biases to is inclusive and accessible to all. Chair beatty thank you very much to our chairwoman. Today, we welcome the testimony of nine witnesses divided into two panels. Our first panel of omwi directors will focus on the banking regulatory regulators. Joyce cofield is the executive director for the office of minority and women inclusion of the office of comptroller. Sheila clark is the director of the office of minority women inclusion of the board of governors of the Federal Reserve system. Lacey is the director of office of minority and women inclusion in new york. Earson is the acting director of the office of minority and women inclusion. And monica davy is the director of office of minority and women inclusion of the National Credit union administration. Witnesses are reminded their oral testimony will be limited to five minutes. A chime will go off at the end of your time. And i ask that you respect the members and other witnesses time by wrapping up your oral testimony. Without objection, your witness statement will be made part of the record. Ms. Cofield, who are now recognized for five minutes to give an oral presentation of your testimony. ,s. Cofield chairwoman Ranking Member, and members of the subcommittee, im Joyce Cofield. I serve as the director of the office of minority and women inclusion at the office of the comptroller of the currency. Im pleased to discuss occs commitment to diversity and inclusion within a workplace, our suppliers and Banking System. The occs omwi was established in 2010 pursuant to section 342 of the dodd frank act. I have served as the director since its inception. Acting comptroller brooks, the committee and i share a commitment of promoting diversity and inclusion. I meet regularly with the acting comptroller, as i have with previous comptrollers. The occ is dedicated to maintaining a Diverse Workforce through a strategy that focuses on leadership commitment, Recruitment Strategies that workplace, competency pipelines with retention strategies sensitive to employee differences, and a culture that respects values and seeks diversity. As the subcommittee has exported previous years, successful diversity and inclusion begins at the top. Acting comptroller brooks has vigorously championed his commitment towards improving the impact of occs Diversity Program and has engaged the executive committee on how to improve diversity for hiring and promotion decisions. Additionally, we are excited about a recently launched initiative, project reach, that convenes leaders from banking, civil rights, technology and business organizations to execute projects that will reduce barriers to the full and fair economic participation, and expand access to credit and capital to minorities and underserved communities. Re that occ hires and retains diverse management and staff, omwi provides Detailed Analysis of Workforce Trends twice a year to facilitate integration of diversity and inclusion. These analysis include recruitment and hiring, promotions and separations, and Employee Development and retention information. To expand the diversity of our applicants, the occ went to 200 colleges and universities, including historically black colleges and universities, and institutions with large female student populations. We participate in minority professional organizations that actively support. This summer, we hosted more than 100 minority students from local high schools for six weeks paid virtual leadership internship. Despite limitations from the coronavirus, the occ provided nye interns with mezam positive enriching experiences. The occ provides developmental opportunities. Omqwwi supports these efforts by providing diversity training, including unconscious bias courses, and women in leadership. The agency recently added leadership exploration and Development Program to build leadership competencies for aspiring leaders and managers. There was 53 females, 18 black and 12 hispanic. The occ is also committed to the inclusion of minority and women owned businesses at all level of our Business Activity. Im proud that over the last 10 years, greater than 30 of all occ contracts have gone to minority and women owned businesses. College,losely with omwi provides greater assistance and facilitates matchmaking with potential contractors. Omwi efforts including collecting data from the banks we supervised. In 2015, we joined in the publication of a policy for joint standards. This policy statement provides the framework for banks to complete a selfassessment and increases awareness of the banks commitment to diversity. To encourage banks to submit self assessments, we collaborated with the other agencies. This year, the banks will have until october to return there ir 2020 selfassessment. I thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today. You. Beatty thank you are now recognized for five minutes to give an oral presentation on your testimony. Thank you. Chair beatty, Ranking Member wagner, members of the subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to testify today on the Important Role of the office of minority and women inclusion of the Federal Reserve board. The board is deeply committed to inclusion and a Diverse Workforce, as well as fostering diversity in our own procurement practices and those the institution regulates. Those perspectives lead to the best decisions and advance the Federal Reserves mission in serving the public. The board established the office of diversity and inclusion to promote Diversity Inclusion throughout the board, the system and within the Financial Services industry. I work closely throughout the board and the system with the other omwi directors at the 12 reserve banks, recognizing the commitment of the board on these important issues is shared by the banks and their leadership. Has equal opportunity compliance programs and includes the office of minority and women inclusion. Omwi pursuant to the dodd frank act, developed initiatives to ensure fair inclusion of minorities, women, and minority owned and women owned businesses, and all activities of the board. As well as developing standards for assessing diversity policies and practices of regulated entities. The boards omwi outline its activities, successes and challenges. I will highlight two areas of this report. The board Shows Progress in increasing the level of diversity in Senior Leadership. In 2019, there were 19 appointments, in which five were minorities and six were women. There are six female directors, which one is africanamerican. Eight Division Directors are male, of which one is hispanic. In addition, there are three africanamericans, one hispanic and three females who serve as deputy directors in their respective divisions. Odis staff engages with the Division Leaders for the boards diversity and inclusion standards. We will continue to address challenges including candidates for major job functions, such as financial analysts and economists, and strengthening the pipeline to senior staff levels. The Federal Reserve system focuses on increasing racial and Ethnic Diversity among reserve bank and branch directors. These boards function more effectively when they are constituting in a matter that encourages a variety of diverse perspectives. Of2020, approximately 75 directors, those who are appointed by the board to represent the public and 70 of class v directors, those elected by the bank to represent the public diversity in gender. The board has made progress. Contractse, 2019 awarded to minority and women owned businesses increased 9 over 2018. This was due in part to our engagement that focuses on forging partnerships with minorities and women owned businesses. And also creating a database of diverse suppliers and ensuring their capability to offer goods and services that meet the boards needs. In addition with respect to the boards capital project, we aligned minority and women owned businesses for subcontracting opportunities. The board has engaged in a wide range of Community Outreach events to increase Financial Literacy and help students explore the field of economics. For example, we facilitate Financial Literacy activities aimed at minorities and women through the Federal Reserve education outreach program. Economists will also participate in the American Economic Association Summer program which will be hosted by Howard University from 2021 to 2025. Is discussedtails in our annual report. We continue to strongly encourage institutions as we regulate to provide information on the diversity policy practices and selfassessment. The last few years, regulated entities slightly increase their submissions. However, we are not satisfied with the level of these entities. We continue to explore ways for participation, including engagements with our colleagues and entities. We appreciate the subcommittees interest in our work and we look forward to working with you to advance our shared objective. I will be glad to answer any questions. Chair beatty thank you. Recognized for five minutes to give an oral presentation on your testimony. Thank you. Chief Human Resources officer and omwi director at the new york fed. My pronouns are she, her and her. Thank you for holding this hearing that marks the crucial anniversary of the dodd frank act and thank you for including the Federal Reserve bank of new york. Systemic racism exists and continues to hinder economic advance and for too many americans. At the new york fed, we believe economic equality is a critical component for social justice and an inclusive and strong economy. Im proud and empowered to be a director at an institution that is dedicated to understanding and filing solutions for the inequality and inequity in the Federal Reserve and the economy have large freedom we represent more than a quarter. It is a commitment to advancing women and minority communities by all employees. It is infused in this culture at the new york fed. Where do we start . We start with our people. More than 3000 exemplary employees of the new york fed. R regrouping efforts provide us the opportunity to add 41 of new hires of women and 50 of whom were minorities. We recruited a diverse class, 58 of whom were minorities as well. 2019, 45 minorities and 33 female. In our Leadership Team of executive Vice President , which includes 36 minorities and 45 female. We know the needs of women and minorities are better served when decisionmaking includes them at the table and we will continue our efforts to example five a Leadership Team that is representative of the population we serve. Beyond our talented employee base, we look to increase the number of women and minority owned firms that conduct business with the new york fed. We have established Federal Reserve to support the u. S. Economy in the wake of the covid19 pandemic. The National Association of security professionals, we are working to diversify our business relationships under these facilities. And Market Operations that are unique to the new york fed. Im excited to tell you later this week, we will be announcing new counterparty and agent relationships that will include minority, women and veteran owned firms. Finally, we deploy considerable resources when it comes to identifying economic inequities suffered by women in communities of color. And just as important, identifying other communities to bridge this gap. Im so proud of the work my research and Community Outreach colleagues have brought to bear on the impact of covid on minority communities. Thatwork is only increased and fervor since the pandemic struck. They have helped identify the Federal Reserve system responses to workforce develop a needs and challenges during this crisis. We have convened practitioners across a variety of issues to support efforts to identify solutions for the most vulnerable community. Reflecting in advancing our commitment to diversity and inclusion later this month, the Congressional Black Caucus will air a segment on th equity with several representatives. What ive highlighted because it dues a fraction of the progress in the new york fed because of an inspired by the omwi division focus. E it a we are not where we need to be. Theres a long way to go. We are steadfast about our commitment to work from a more equitable economy and society for all. We redouble our efforts for this essential mission. Im confident and determined that we have been provided with the essentials to make a difference to those who serve in the community and enhance the experience for those who work in the new york fed. Thank you for the opportunity to meet with me today. I welcome your questions. Chair beatty thank you. Pearson, you are now recognized for five and is to give an oral presentation on your testimony. Subcommittee,the thank you for the opportunity to testify. Arson inis nikita peras two weeks ago i became the acting director of omwi at the fdic. I would like to explain why this is not just another job for me. As a young black girl growing up in rural georgia, i often went with my great aunt and uncle to their job. I vividly remember going to my mother to one of those same banks and watching tears rolled down her face as the loan officer disrespectfully denied her loan application. Even as a child, i knew what i was witnessing was wrong. The same thing that trusted the family the keys to the bank would not lend to my mother or at least denied. This is one experience that came to mind when recruiters came to Savannah State university, a historically black university, and spoke to my accounting class about the mission of the fdic. As an fdic examiner, i would have the opportunity to influence policies that will help people like my mom. Now as a 22 year veteran of the agency, with 17 years and examination workforce, i understand the progress the fdic has made on diversity and inclusion that relishes the challenges we still face. Values, chairwomans she made her values and expectations clear. We will not tolerate discrimination. We will ensure the Banking System we supervised is safe and inclusive. And we will recruit, retain and advance a Diverse Workforce that is a reflection of the communities we serve. With these goals in mind, we have implemented initiatives to advance diversity and inclusion in our workforce, our Business Activity and the banks we regulate. For my written statement provides greater detail, there are several missions we have recently taken i would like to highlight. We have placed special emphasis on our Largest Group of employees, Commission Bank examiners, who make up about 50 of our workforce and occupy a significant number of leadership positions across the agencies. To promote diversity, we must focus on that. Our ability to attract and attain a Diverse Workforce is affected by a number of factors. The amount of travel, the field office structure, and the impact of low turnover for Career Advancement. I have seen all of these challenges firsthand. The fdic has taken steps to address all of these issues and creating an executive Level Task Force to improve diversity and inclusion. Mandatory examiner training is now more efficient and incorporates training. We have targeted minority serving institutions like hbcus to build a more diverse pipeline. We are using technology to cut the amount of time examiners are on the road and away from their families. We are expanding mentoring and Career Advancement opportunities. We have improved Workplace Benefits by adding paid parental leave. These initiatives have proven successful. Tenure,he chairmans 36 of our hires have been minorities. Reversing a decadelong trend and exceeding our current representation rate. The agency has increased diversity across Management Level decisions and chairman Williams Team is diverse. We have also diversified our supply chain to provide opportunities for minority and women owned businesses and law firms. Awarded 31 ofic all new awards to minority and women owned businesses. We paid nearly 11 million to minority and women owned law firms. We have also promoted diversity and inclusion across the Financial Services industry. We are encouraging the fdic to provide banks to report on their diversity and have taken numerous steps to make it easier for banks to file their annual diversity report. We a re sharing our findings from the selfassessment on our website. We have promoted best practices related to diversity and inclusion. Progresshas made good in fostering diversity and inclusion in these and other areas, including support for minority institutions and efforts to promote Financial Inclusion. We also know that our work is far from complete. Chairman williams is deeply committed to these efforts and i am honored to serve the fdic as her omwi director at this critical time in history. Thank you again for the opportunity to testify. I look forward to your questions. Chair beatty thank you very much. Ms. Davy, you are now recognized for five minutes to give an oral presentation on your testimony. Ms. Davy good afternoon, chairwoman beatty, Ranking Member wagner, chairwoman waters, and members of the subcommittee. Thank you so much for this opportunity. Im looking forward to sharing with you our efforts to ensure we remain an agency where diversity, equity and inclusion, or also referred to as dei, are part of who we are and how we do business. The act does not make the chairman as the spokesperson for the board. As the agencys representatives and all official relationship with other branches of government, im here today and my official capacity as the om wi director to testify. It has been a catalyst for growth and change in the diversity and equity space. We are proud of the progress we have made over the last decade. However, this work takes long time dedication and commitment. The ncua is fortunate to have a succession of leaders that are passionate about dei. Our current chairman and Board Members are not just individually committed, but collectively strong and unwavering in their support to these principles. Each of you has a copy of the 2019 omwi report to congress. I would like to highlight three key messages. First, the ncua is committed to promoting diversity, equity and inclusion within the Credit Union System. Second, the ncua has taken concrete steps to improve key indicators of dei within the Credit Union System. Third, the ncua believes a Diverse Workforce, Inclusive Work o environment and supply chain makes Good Business sense. Now my first point about the commitment to promoting dei within the present system. Let me highlight a few things we have done. Last year, the ncua hosted its first annual dei summit. It was the first event of its kind for the industry and attracted more than 150 attendees. The goal was to promote the value of dei in Credit Unions, provide an opportunity for Credit Unions to share best practices, and give attendees a forum to discuss solutions. Interest has significantly grown following the summit. In fact, afterwards, Industry Leaders came together with the ncua to form the credit union dei collective. This collective now serves as a resource for the industry on all things related to dei. On my second point, let me highlight some of the concrete steps we are taking to improve dei metrics. Following that 2019 summit, we saw significant increase in voluntary selfassessment. Though we want those numbers to improve, we have shown steady increases every year which is promising. To help ensure even greater participation, our board voted unanimously in july of this year to explore ways to incentivize participation. For example, the ncua is considering the viability of reducing the operating fees charged to Credit Unions that submit their diversity selfassessment. We hope that congress will support the agency in this effort. My final point. Diversity and inclusion within the ncua. Importantly, we are seeing improvements in diversity within our leadership pipeline. For example, over the past five use, racial and ethnic five years, racial and Ethnic Diversity in our staff has increased by more than five Percentage Points. During the same period, racial and Ethnic Diversity among our senior staff positions has increased by nearly 12 Percentage Points. At the end of 2019, 20 of ncuas workforce belongs to one of our six employee Resource Groups which supports our diverse employees and creates a strong sense of belonging within the agency. It is worth noting we are committed to Continuous Improvement with respect to supplier diversity. The agency awarded more than 40 of our total contract dollars to minority or womenowned businesses the past two years. I will also note our awards to minority owned businesses have improved by 15. 9 Percentage Points over the last five years. In closing, the ncua is committed to advancing diversity, equity and inclusion within the agency, the Credit Union System, and the broader Financial Services sector. I look forward to answering any questions you may have for me. Thank you. Chair beatty thank you and think you to all of our witnesses. I now recognize myself for five minutes for questions. First question will go to ms. Clark, ms. Pearson, and then ms. Davy. Why do you believe your regulated entities have failed to submit self assessments . Really providing an opportunity for the institutions to do just that. We find in several instances that institutions were not sure of what information they needed to submit. But through the years, we have been able to clarify and work with them on those types of information that would be very helpful and productive in addressing issues within the Financial Services industry. It has been slow, but we have seen even this year, as the major financial institution, more than 50 of them have submitted assessments this year which have been significant in addressing some of the areas that we have been focusing on like workforce. Like the supplier diversity. Chair beatty thank you. I will go to ms. Pearson. I hate to cut people off. Cofield. Davy and ms. You have the highest level of responses to the selfassessment request, but fell short of the goal. Should these assessment processes be mandatory or regulated entities . Pedavy, ms. Cofield, do you want to take that, and then we will come back to you, ms. Pearson . Are you with me . Hi, thank you so much for the question. Would be willing to consider and provide Administrative Assistance to , makess if they, in fact the selfassessment mandatory. Right now, our agency has taken the position, our General Office says they are not mandatory. Chair beatty ok. Anyone else want to comment on that . Ok, let me go to the next question. Business diversity is a top priority. Ms. Dingman, can you briefly provide an update on your Business Diversity effort . Ms. Dingman thank you for that question. We have been working extensively to build more relationships with communities. N and as i mentioned, one of the things we are most proud of is the reason work we have done with the National Association of security professionals. Later this week, we will be announcing additional counterparty relationships as well as relationships with minority women and businesses. This is an ongoing effort and one we have to continue to go after because we realize how important it is a business imperative. Chair beatty to all of the witnesses, are you familiar with the letter that came from the omb director, where he made reference i dont know if you can see it, but i would like to enter it into the record without objection. I will allow it to be in the record. Of yourelieve in any training for diversity and have statedat you or believed all white people contribute to racism or benefit from racism, as he had said in this letter where they are asking for us to stop all training . That can be a yes or no. We will go right down the panel. Pearson yes or no, please . Ms. Cofield this is Joyce Cofield. We absolutely do not have training that anyways attributes to language like that. Chair beatty thank you. Ms. Pearson, ms. Davy . Ms. Clark at the Federal Reserve, we in no way have any training that says all white people no, we do not have divisive language in our training. Chair beatty ok. Anyone else, yes or no . Our training is to educate and not alienate anyone. Chair beatty thank you so much. My time is up and i yield back. I will now go to our Ranking Member, congresswoman wagner, for five minutes of questions. Rep. Wagner thank you, madam chairwoman. Ofield, you have served as director since the office was established in 2010. I would love to hear from you what has been the most significant challenges that you and your office have faced with respect to recruiting and retaining women and minorities . Ms. Cofield thank you. Similar to the fbi see fdicements earlier f statements earlier, examiners are the largest population and maintaining a firm pipeline of diverse candidates and diverse employees through our examiner ranks is our biggest challenge. Really is a very long training time period. And because distracting to new people as they think about a career. We spend a lot of time in terms of marketing the examininer role and the kind of work that gets involved. It comes difficult that is based on travel and based on the amount of time that we need to invested into doing that job. Others can see themselves in that role. In addition, the training time period is very long. It takes five years to get to commissionship. Arounde to really build this career. That is our most challenging. Rep. Wagner let me just ask you five years, how do you address those challenges . And are there any new challenges you are facing right now . Cofield we have been trying to Pay Attention to this a lot over the years. One of the areas that helps us a lot is our Employee Network groups that offers opportunities for their constituents to not only get support relative to being knowledgeable of where , both promotions and new job opportunities, as well as basic developmental opportunities, but support structures relative to mentoring and coaching each other, and keeping each other informed in terms of activities and the agencies that would be important to them and their careers. Mock interviews with each other to support each other. Rep. Wagner let me ask you this. I know in july, acting comptroller brooks announced project reach with the goal of expanding and finding access by reducing the number of people excluded from the mainstream Banking System due to their credit score. Access to americas main street Banking System is very important to me, with millions of Americans Still unbanked and underbanked. How will the project specifically help them . Ms. Cofield we are focused on convenient players relative to the banking world. Leadership relative to civil rights. Our Community Activist groups, technology organizations, businesses generally in terms of trying to identify the barriers that are in play relative to fair and full participation in our economy. Again, the major piece is resolution six months time of activity that can be organized to make a difference relative to that process. Isin, the main issue resolution oriented. Rep. Wagner thank you. You mentioned the new york fed resource network. Are these similar to an Employee Resource Group . Could you explain the differences in Resource Networks and how they are proving to be effective at increasing the rate of retention for women and minorities within the new york fed . Thank you for that question. The employee Resource Networks are very much the same of what you would expect in the federal space. We have 10 of them. They have been active so much so that we have 1500 employees that participate. It is over half of our organization. They help bring out a variety of programs. Last year alone, we had over 50 programs that help with building inclusion within the organization. It also spotlighted a series of issues affecting those particular communities. We see them as integral to our business. Rep. Wagner that is terrific. I have to tell you the Resource Networks are something that we are seeing from the private and federal financial regulat or system. I have run out of time. I thank you all again for your interest and testimony today. Madam chair, i yield back. Chair beatty thank you, madame ranking. The chair now recognizes the distinguished chairwoman of the Financial Services committee from california, congresswoman and chairwoman Maxine Waters. Rep. Waters thank you, very much. I would like to direct my first question to ms. Pearson. I think she is with the fbdic. Us the stats on your improvement in your handling of minorities and women . I would like to know can you break that down to tell us how many africanamericans, how many asians, how many latinx how downu do you break that and will you tell us that if we ask you that information, if we sought that information from you . Ms. Pearson yes, we do break that down and we can get that information. I dont have all the details here with me as far as the new hirings. I do have the 33 have been minorities. If you look at our total workforce today, 30 of our workforce are minorities and that is about we have increased that representation rate. Rep. Waters im interested in manyng exactly how africanamericans, how many asians how many of those in the protected classes. Do you have that information . Ms. Pearson i have some of that here with you and i will be happy to give that to you. There is 17 black of our workforce. 4 latinx. 45 women. Some of the other groups, i would be happy to make sure we get that information to you. Chair beatty when you speak about women, do you have a breakdown of the protected classes among that group, women . Ms. Pearson i do not have that with me but i would be happy to get that to you. Rep. Waters thank you very much. While i have you, i want to ask you about another aspect of omwi. Im very appreciative for the information. Ive not had a lot of information about contracting. I think that would be ms. Clark. Could you give me in example of the kind of contracts that have gone to minorities and women . Ms. Clark thank you, congresswoman chair waters. There are contrast going to minority and women owned businesses. Right now, the majority of our projects are in capital projects. We have robust outreach to encourage minority owned businesses, particularly to have meetings and meet with contractors around the Capital Partners we currently have. We have major contracts on the professional side of services that we are acquiring. In that regard, most of the contractors are minority and women owned businesses. Rep. Waters i would like to get a breakdown and interpretation of the kinds of contracts that you have been able to assist. I just have no idea whether it is, again, you are referring to your capital possibilities the contract there. I would like to know all of the areas in which you have minorities that are getting contracts. You can get that information to us later on. Ms. Pearson i would be happy to provide that. Rep. Waters has my time expired . No . Chair beatty youre good. Rep. Waters thank you. Back to the fbdic. I have always been concerned about what happens with small banks in particular. There have been increasingly over the years, a number of small banks that have failed and they have been taken over by the fdic. Have any of those banks acquired minority . Ms. Pearson i do not have the breakdown of the specific acquisition. What i can tell you if there is a small institution, particularly if it is a Minority Depository Institution, we have our policy statement to speak to find minority institutions before we open it up to the bigger. Rep. Waters have you been successful in any acquisitions when you are putting them back on the market . Ms. Pearson yes, we have been successful. I would be happy to give you the details. Rep. Waters thank you very much. I would appreciate that. Can youll have time, give me information about contracts . What kind of contracts have you been able to assist with . Generally,heboard but very high relative 60 of our contracting business is is in the i. T. Arena and we have been very successful. Rep. Waters i would like to get that information from you to whatunderstand exactly businesses have been successful and what we can do to do outreach to other businesses who perhaps would be eligible for other contracts that may not be responsive anyway. With that, i yield back the balance of my time. Thank you. Chair beatty thank you very much. The chair now recognizes the distinguished gentleman from oklahoma, congressman lucas, for five minutes of questioning. Rep. Lucas thank you for holding this subcommittee today. Big challenges, if not the most major challenge in the Financial Services industry is finding diverse qualified applicants. I would like to put this question to the entire panel. What Financial Literacy and education initiatives are your respective organizations involved in to illustrate to students the potential careers in the Financial Sector . , so that they can prepare themselves for the opportunities that exist. I ask the whole panel that question. This is Joyce Cofield with the occ. We became very clear that preparing students even at the College Level was difficult in terms of Financial Literacy information. Nwo years ago now, we began a Internship Program in our local high schools here in the city of washington. That program is in the second year. This year, weve had 100 students that participated in that. Part of that experience is specifically oriented around Financial Literacy. Rep. Lucas anyone else . We have several programs that are geared to encouraging, educating and providing information on the kinds of jobs. We work very closely with a lot of the hbcus, the hispanic serving institutions. We also participate in an initiative that was started in chicago which is called the pipeline initiative, which is done with major banking and Financial Services companies to basically establish relationships through mentoring and coaching for College Students who are interested in finance and bringing them into the organization to do rotation assignments, to do some internships and we monitor that very closely. We stay engaged with those students. We participate in the American Economic Association Summer program, which i mentioned previously, in order to not only encourage students to stay in the economic field but also to provide them support in advancing their education. Davy this is monica davy. Like the other agencies mentioned, we have three different types of intern programs. One is a High School Program we participated in this year. We also have a pathways program, as well as an Internship Program that focuses on bringing minorities to the agency. With all of those interns that come in, we are sure to provide Financial Inclusion as part of their education. We also have on our website, my credit union provides a ton of Financial Inclusion education geared specifically to children. Also, we participate with the African American credit union coalition. Theres a conference every year where they actually have a Financial Inclusion fair, where students are brought through, given jobs, given a budget and they learn how to spend money on Different Things like paying bills. Thank you. Representative lucas, this is lainey damons, in addition to the injuries of programs that my then addition to many of programs that my colleagues mentioned we have robust Financial Literacy program and our Outreach Team does and last year we reached out thousands of students as well as educators to our economic Pedagogy Program as well as our comic book series where we find Financial Literacy is very important or the Second District in new york area. Congressman lucas i want to thank you for tying those two together. Just the recruitment and Financial Literacy and i remember when i started at Savannah State walking down the commons area the first thing i see is a bunch of different credit card companies. Trying to reel me in so when our recruiters to the different universities, the one thing we do and an intentional effort that we dont just tell them about the jobs we have, we talk about our severances and we have services, and we have resume writing and we talk about Financial Literacy and really make sure that we prepare with the market interviews, we prepare the students they can be successful when they compete. The reason i brought this up as we create copper we create opportunities for people to live up to their potential. I have to know those opportunities exist. Thats why these programs are so critical. And with that madam chairman my time has expired and ideal back. And i yield back. Thank you very much. Now it is my honor to go to the distinguished gentleman from missouri, congressman clay. Thank you so much madam chair and let me also thank you and my friend and neighbor for banking Ranking Member wagner for conducting this hearing today. I think its so important that we examine this subject and doctor chris brahmers recent report entitled what do the data reveal about absence of black financial regulators. Found a critical lack of black people among appointees and senior policy. Staff at the financial regulatory statements. According to the analysis, only 10 of 300 and 75 , 79 employees have been black. Only five of 120 total senior policy staff was in the position are currently held by africanamericans at the agency. The report concluded when black people are included , from these excluded from these high posts in the financial regulatory agencies , black voices are muted and do not have a say in outcomes that affect their ability to be fully included in the economy this , these two questions are to all panelists. With the lack of diversity in these senior levels, what else do can we do to ensure the Minority Community is not overlooked by their agencies consider new rules and regulations and what measures do your officers take to review diversity within promoting and hiring senior staff so two questions. What else do you all do and then how do you all impact hiring and promoting of senior staff. We can start with miss 80 and go with ms. Davy and go down the line. Thank you so much for that . The first say we are proud at the end you see a to have chairman hood who is the first africanamerican head of our Banking Regulatory Agency and he is extremely committed to making sure that we examine our processes. Our policies, our systems to remove any barriers that exist are africanamericans to proceed up in the career pipeline. We are extremely committed to making sure we have mentoring, employee asked for mentor no matter what their grade is, were sure to make sure that employee has a mentor. We are looking at our examiner series because the percent of 57 of our workforce are examiners. So it africanamericans or any other Minority Group are not succeeding for that career pipeline, are not going to achieve the diversity results that we want to within the past year we forked with opm to really look at our examiners series and look at how employees are able to process through. Weve looked at these exams, the examiners have to take to vote to go from grade 11 to grade 12 to make sure if there are any barriers there that are not completely visible to us that we remove them and address them. And i am proud of that work that weve done. Let me get to the rest of the panel. Thank you. Miss pearson, how do we overcome the challenges . Some of the things weve done at fdic, weve engaged the hiring manager and we have frank conversations about what the needs are and then along with our hr office we also partner with how we advertise when we go out to events we dont talk about marketing and threelevel entry level positions, we also now talk about our higher level positions will be available and in addition to that were in the process of editing our merit promotion process. And so with that policy we have been involved in looking with that policy make sure we dont put any unintended barriers. We also have some new corporate wide dissection planning that were working on. We have a new leadership Development Program and we identify high performing people to pull them into that program. We also have a special Assistance Program where individuals who may not have had an opportunity to work with the chairman of the office level have that exposure and that awareness and then were also taking the time to look at our processes, evaluating and identify and eliminate any barriers that we have and that way we can make sure that senior Leadership Team is diverse and inclusive and represents the communities that we serve. Thank you miss pearson, miss dingman can you weigh in on the question . Like my colleagues we have similar processes in place and we utilize seven different search factors for diversity outreach efforts and many of them are minority Women Veterans businesses and in addition we also ensure that you are your recruitment efforts, we make sure that as part of the process we remove as unclassified as possible to a rigorous set of processes and programs that we have an overall i feel like we are very much doing our part to try and raise awareness for the hiring managers that we continue our diverse candidates. Thank you for your response and my time is up. The chairwoman now recognizes the distinguished gentleman from ohio. Congressman gonzales for five minutes for questions. Thank you chairwoman beatty and its good to see you as always and thank you everybody for being here today. For this important hearing. Miss pearson i want to start with you. For a couple of questions. I was struck by your personal stories a little bit of background before i get this job i was a professional Football Player in a prior life and you sort of described growing up more in the south, black woman in theing up poor south, black woman and how difficult journey can be but you talk about how in your Work Experience has helped you sort of not just professionally but in terms of sort of overcoming many of these barriers area when you describe that it resonates with me because you sort of describe a lot of my teammates. They were men similar growing up poor, black and in the south. My question is and maybe its beyond the scope of this Committee Even but how do we get more people to travel the distance that you did area a professional distance to go from difficult circumstances to where we can overcome barriers and really just power through some of these incredibly difficult obstacles that we have in our society today. Id love to hear your perspective on. So the first thing is to be intentional. There are more out there in the world and that are a lot better than i am so be purposeful and go to the historically black colleges. Go to other minorities institutions and recruit them and let them be prepared to be successful. Once you get these individuals on board myself , make us feel included and when i say make us feel included, that we have opportunities that we have opportunities to engage as far as like with employee resources where no matter where youre particularly located the fdic has been in our mentoring programs. I was in our executive potential program, the fdic paper graduate school of banking i went to harvard so really having that Career Development, i had both formal and informal mentors at the fdic. So and then there were a number of different career paths or where i wanted to take. Not only was there recruitment where my recruits recruited me from Savannah State. They didnt stop once i came on board. They called me regularly. They checked in on me to see how i was doing. When i got on the job i had a coach assigned to help me with my commissioning process. I had Career Development opportunity and then they gave me the opportunity to do like the work im doing now. I go back to Savannah State university when i can to do recruiting and identify others and share my different perspectives that may be valuable in saying this may look like that to you but that is a rising star right there and i can see it because i was that person. Thats powerful, thank you for sharing that. One of the issues we encountered through the pandemic is getting capital into the hands of Small Businesses. And particularly minority owned businesses. Can you share your perspective on how minority owned businesses were able to Access Capital from Financial Institutions and what we could have done better so im trying to understand that we made some progress but what did the stars do and how can we sort of pass those on to the rest of the financial communities . I want to make sure i get your question. Your question is more focused on getting capital into the hands of Small Businesses, minority owned businesses okay. One of the first things is developing a relationship. When relationships going in, getting to know your bank at fdic we not only have a Community Bank advisory committee, we established a Minority Depository Institution subcommittee and the reason i bring that up is because Minority Depository Institutions serve their communities. Not just with the bigelow but with the big loans, but they are probably the biggest lender or one of the big lenders for Small Business loans in minority owned communities. They know their communities so our support has been how can we work more closely with institutions like Minority Depository Institutions to help serve their communities. I only have 20 seconds so ill yield back but thank you madam chair thank you miss pearson. Thank you very much and the chair now recognizes the distinguished gentleman from texas and the chairman of oversight investigation. Congressman graham. Congressman green. Green seatedn . Im seated and unmuted. Thank you very much. Thank you for posting the hearing today and the Ranking Member as well read especially i want to thank the chair of the full committee. And i do this because the question i have to say this during his long overdue but its timely. Its timely in the sense that on september 5, i had intelligence indicating President Trump had banned diversity training and it seems to be calling it antiamerican. It seems to be saying that such training only fosters resentment in the workplace. That is pretty strong language. Given that we know the role of the is to create forums where employees can have candid, courageous and Safe Conversations about the impacts of discrimination in their personal and Work Experiences. This causes me a good deal of concern so let me just ask you miss pearson to quickly tell me do you provide such training at your agency and can you just give me some indication as to what the benefits of these trainings , this training is that relates to your staff . We do provide training on Diversity Inclusion and our purpose like i said earlier, our purpose in our training is to educate and not alienate. We have to meet people where they are, people bring different needs and perspectives and we need to meet together where we are. Then we move forward and we move forward together. That means sometimes the conversations are a little uncomfortable but we learn and we grow and we move forward and the feedback that weve received from employees is that they appreciate the training that we have. They appreciate the opportunity to share their stories read other folks appreciate the opportunity to share different perspectives and we all feel that this is a good thing for us area. Let me just quickly talk to all the members of the panel because ordinarily i would simply have you raise your hands but given the environment were in , let me ask you miss cofield quickly to you believe that this is the american thing to do that this kind of training is appropriate for your workplace. And can you give me a simple yes, sir no . I think its quite appropriate yes. Miss clark. I also feel that is quite appropriate area. I agree as well. I agree as well. I also would want to call this to the attention of my colleagues. This is evidence of why we need hr 8160 , the bill that promotes diversity and inclusion in banking. This is important because we have evidence now that the president will do what he can to thwart the efforts of something that has been the law for many years now, not frank into being dodd frank brought it into being under the leadership of Maxine Waters area this kind of effort to thwart what we are trying to do which is constitutional which is american should not be allowed. And this bill would actually require the regulators to examine Financial Inclusion and diversity and inclusion. So im actually saddened by what the president has done but its evidence of what must be done. So im going to bed my to beg my colleagues to please examine this bill hr 8160 because clearly if we dont have this enacted into law, this motion that we can at least do what the constitution says we should do by virtue of many sections of it, i wont go into them right now but that is to try to become an america where everybody is treated equally. Equality under the law area im very much disturbed by what the president has done rid asked one additional question i have in the past about how some 70 percent of the executive Level Community positions have certain certain banks are held by men. Some 70 . That means obviously about 30 percent of the positions are held by women. In a country where more than 50 percent of the people are women it just seems to me that this is further evidence of the need for we ask each of you again to tell me with the two seconds i have left, tell me quickly about your beliefs in terms of what women bring to the workplace. Do women bring value to the workplace such that we ought to have them give us their opinions by way of being a part of the workforce . Miss cofield. Yes. Miss clark. Most definitely. Miss dingman. Yes. Miss davies. Yes. I yield back. Thank you congressman and the chair recognizes the distinguished member from wisconsin, congressman feel. Thank you very much chairwoman, appreciate you holding todays hearing and appreciate all of our panelists for being on to discuss what an important topic , how do we create a more Perfect Union and get the inclusion and make sure everyone has a seat at the table. I have the opportunity to read the testimony and i wanted to ask you miss pearson , in particular we hear a lot about the difficulty on the recruiting side of getting underrepresented minorities into and at the table. And i wanted just to dive in with you in some of the things your organization is doing in particular as it relates to the mentor ship side of this. We talk a lot about the need to make sure underrepresented minorities , women have that network that they can rely on to be able to get back into the table and what youve been doing in particular as it relates to the internal process of the mentorship program. Of some of these groups. Thank you for that question. At the fdic we have a variety of different ways both formal and informal for those mentoring opportunities. Our first thought was informal. I talked to you how they recruited me out of college, still served as an informal mentor. I was progressing and on the formal side of the fdic and also a variety of different ways. If you are a staff level employee you can be involved in our mentor and program where youre applying to be a more Senior Leader and you develop a leadership plan and in addition we have a specific plan for leaders. We have our leadership mentoring plans where managers can be partnered with more senior managers for their development. If you have an interest in becoming a leader you also have a program for emerging leaders where you can seek coaching and in addition we are now focused on some of our more Senior Leadership opportunities where we can take individual that we identify are highperforming and partner them with specific assignments and higher levels that they may not normally get an opportunity to be exposed to because that awareness, all those things help contribute to the success factors and it did for me. Thank you miss pearson and in the limited time i have here im going to ask miss Cofield Cofield and ms. Clark, youve heard about these 50,000 feet discount discussing some of the strategies and id love for each of you to talk about a specific story where this has been impactful. Sometimes when we talk about this as an individual helps us on the committee and those watching better understand the work being done so if you have a story on that miss cofield i love to hear how that played out in a practical way for an individual that benefited by some of the strategies youve employed at the occ. I can think of really cases but particularly this year, last year has actually dive down into our area analysis because what we were seeing was a low Participation Rate of hispanics in our Organization Even though we were hiring at the labor force where we know this was a did not stay on board. They did not stay with us from a retention standpoint. Weve done what we call a hispanic area analysis and out of that we had an opportunity to gain information through focus Group Activities and what we learn is so much involved in terms of what the employees experiences like no not only were we to get the numbers to get them looking at the movements from one job to another , promotion opportunities, we got to hear the stories from hispanics themselves in terms of how life and the kinds of things that were supported to them and the kinds of things that actually ended up being barriers to them. Thank you very much. With a limited time of going to try to jump to ms. Clark if you have a story where it personifies this that would be terrific for all of us. Thank you very much. One of the ways i use myself, ive been working since i was 16 years old. A couple of decades in there. I have been in business and i came to the Federal Reserve board from the private sector. And immediately , i received a mentor who basically helped guide me through the culture of the organization which i think is critical and also enable me to have an opportunity to understand what it was i needed to do as an individual to be successful within the organization. We continue having had that experience i am more than willing to support anyone who has an interest and also provide them with resources to achieve their goals the board continues to do that today. Thank you very much list ms. Clark and looking at the time i will yield back. The chairwoman now recognizes the distinguished gentleman from florida, congressman lawson for five minutes for questions. Thank you chairwoman baby and beatty, andn Ranking Member wagner area for posting this hearing today. We are now on the tip fifth anniversary of frank. And one of the things that we found across the financial regulatory agency, africanamerican employees generally receive lower homeless lower rates than white employees. This is since this has been prevalent and we are aware of it , what progress is and practices and i heard you all talk about mentors and so forth that have been implemented to relieve some of the values and your Performance Review process. That may have caused those performance areas and what then has your agency corrected since the Committee Review in 2015 . So if i could just go down the line and maybe have you know one after the other. One of the things the board has done, by an annual basis we review all of our performance ratings. I am involved in the process. We look to see if there are any outliers in the way in which people are being evaluated on the criteria or they reestablished around the competency and performance that is needed. Once we review those performance ratings we have discussions where there are issues that we had discussions with the divisions in which those issues persist in and we work to find out exactly what is being done to make sure that everyone is treated on an equal Playing Field and that the evaluations are done fairly and equitably and we do this annually we identify barriers. And then we also are engaged in making sure that people understand what the level of expectations are and that discrimination or any allegations that is prohibited to one advancing of self within the organization is needed. Ok, next. Ms. Davy from ncua. Thank you so much. One of the things we do besides reviewing our performance evaluations to make sure that there is consistency. We also make sure that in our mentoring program we call it mentoring across differences and we try to make sure when people get mentors that they get someone outside of their group. To make sure people have exposure to other people read thats one of the really good ways you can break down unconscious biases. We make sure resource at their executive sponsors for people that are not part of those groups. We do very focused training on unconscious bias because we know unconscious bias can come into play when doing performance evaluations so those are things we do that would help deal with that issue. Cofield from the occ. Dissimilar from what my colleagues have offered up we also are unconscious bias trainings specifically with managers dive down into the consequences of bias within our processes and our performance processes, one of those that we highlight. So we are consciously not only making sure that theres training in this show them how they use this in their everyday process in and of itself. In addition we provide past performance ratings to managers prior to the Upcoming Administration so they can see what their trends and the performances look like in the past and they can see their own reflection in terms of whether or not the things they need to consider differently. Miss pearson. At the fdic like my colleagues we also provide training to our managers and we have a robust review process. The part that i would like to add that i dont think ive heard yet is that we also train our employees and managers on the rating process and we provide opportunities for our employees to know how to put their best foot forward and so when they are providing information and feedback to their managers, how can they explain information in a way to make sure that their best foot is forward so in addition to the training that we do and in addition to the process we also make sure our employees are prepared and all those things Work Together to make sure we reach a fair and equitable process. I think we have one. Like my colleagues we do similar processes and i know were out of time that i would say we also focused extensively on training as well as how do we ensure that the process is straight through and evaluating those ratings every year to make sure there is no unconscious bias that we mitigate unconscious bias in the process. And ill print out the time and with that i yield back. The chair now recognizes the distinguished dental lady from gentlelady from texas, congresswoman garcia for five minutes for questions. Im doing it from a cell phone, can youll hear me . We can hear you and see you. Great. At least two things will make it work. Thank you so much chairwoman for this. Two things in this topic that are so important , and i wanted to start with this , the missed with ms. Dingam from newy york. You mentioned a lot of the outreach and a lot of the programs that new york is doing what is in your judgment the best tool that you all have and others should use as a best practice to ensure that there is full participation from all the protected classes. I know ive heard from someone mentioned that they had an issue with retention of dinos so latinos. Ion of since youre from new york and have a lot of robust latino population, what is it you may be doing that you might be able to share that would help recruit and retain latinos in your organization . Thank you representative garcia and in regards to the Second District we have a strong hispanic population and we work very hard to try and recruit in hispanics. Unfortunately we have not had the level of success we would like to see that we continue to work to have in our recruitment processes diverse ways and five sure theres ake variety of different beliefs coming to the table for each position that we consider and so i would say thats the key to continue to go after that as well as building robust relationships with outside organizations that can help fill that pipeline so i think like many of my colleagues we have a robust Relationship Management that we do with a variety of different hispanic and africanamerican associations that help us fill our pipeline. You, imvy for following up with that area in particular challenges in your organization with not only outreach programs for all the groups but also perhaps for any language barriers or different policies for example for our seniors to make sure that they feel theyre included and that they use one of their institutions that they are not only people that look like them also like them area. But also speak like them. First internally we make sure that we are recruiting from hispanic serving organizations and pools. And schools. I think one of the biggest impacts that has had on on our organization is the creation of our hispanic resources. Coulter out. Cultura. That group is involved in recruiting coming up with recruiting strategies and they also involve themselves in translation needs that we may have as an agency and with the Credit Union System its extremely important that our Credit Unions are inclusive, that they look at their products and services to make sure theyre offering products and services in different languages and i think that has had a huge impact in our Minority Depository Institutions and Credit Union Space and making sure they have representation area on their power lines, on their board and on their management teams that reflect the community that they serve area. Ms. Clark, i wanted to ask you to talk about a lot of your numbers , the programs you might have. The Biggest Issue that i see with all these programs. Used to be dealt with all kinds of Financial Services groups , particularly banking and the biggest toughest thing is compliance. I mean, we can write all these rules. You can make it mandatory and it can be selfpossessed, whether it can be imposed. The real question of the matter is how do we make these companies and how do we make your systems comply . What would be your recommendation to congress on what we could do for better compliance . Congressman garcia are you addressing compliance for the entity that we regulate or seeking compliance in that regard western mark. In that regard . Yes maam. I think it will be up to the congressional members in congress to put forth what they feel is necessary in order to have these institutions be compliant. What would make it easier for you to help with compliance and again, as we switch from voluntary to mandatory we still have to make people do it. What would be helpful is i think the more information we are able to receive and know what the practices are , the institutions that we regulate, the better we are able to serve the intention of the legislation that was issued. I believe that continued dialogue and meeting and reimbursing with each other and being intentional on the things that we do would make it much more successful. Thank you chairman beatty and ive run out of time. The chair now recognizes the distinguished gentleman from pennsylvania, congresswoman dean for five minutes for questions. Unmuted,. m thank you for holding this hearing. Im delighted to be here with you. So i wanted to first quickly ask a followup to the question that representative greene asked about the news reporting of september 5 that the Trump Administration had instructed federal agencies to end Racial Sensitivity Training and that was followed by an omb mailing to federal agencies but i wanted to ask just a yes, sir no and we no, and we will go down right down the line. Prior to the omb notice , or after as the Trump Administration asked your agency to stop diverse city and sensitivity training . If i could start with miss cofield. Im not aware of that. Thank you, ms. Clark. Im not aware also. Not that im aware of. Not that im aware of. Not that im aware of. I appreciate that. So much of the information youre talking about and the good work youre doing , revolves around who we hire. And so one of the things that we know , that weve learned of the importance of divers hiring panels to ensure that a large range of perspectives are offered when evaluating potential employees reedit we know that hiring committees and panels with little to no diversity can bring bias even unintended bias if everybody looks the same, everybody has a similar background and experience , there will be necessarily some builtin bias. In the review of applicants read to that and ill go through each of you again , in terms of divers hiring panels what is your agency doing to ensure that miss cofield please. So we have a general rule are panels are diverse and in fact that our objective committee we actually check in with you each other on a regular basis as decisions are mailed made as to selections of what the diversity of the panel is and give each other feedback as to whether or not the concept of diversity is the intent of that diversity is in fact real so the diversity of the panel is a very important critical issue relative to the Selection Process at occ. And it must be intentional , absolutely right. The Federal Reserve board we also have a process by which the recruitment process enables people to potential attend training on bias and the recruiting process. We have diverse panels for all our physicians particularly on official bands. All our positions on official staffs. I am involved in the process and i am in the process so that i can determine whether or not we are being inclusive , not only from those who are being interviewers but also the folks who have the support so that is a regular part of our process overall, diversity is key. Thank you very much and miss dingam . We also have a diverse paddling process similar to my colleagues. We ensure that we have several panels participate in each of our hiring selections and then we review those metrics after the process is concluded to make sure we have maintained that process and in its entirety so we feel like that has helped us in mitigating unconscious bias. Is that in your practice . It has been a practice since my time at the bank. But i would say its been long before my time. We do recommend the best practice of having diverse panels and in addition we provide unconscious bias for our hiring managers and the very the third thing that we do is electing official but theres also a review process where theres a proven review to that particular selection for our job opportunities. At the ncua we have a policy of whenever possible that there be the inclusion of a minority for women representation. Im glad to hear all of that. Did you know that in order to be successful at recognizing and hiring in diverse ways we have to be intentional. We have to critically examine who is , who are applicants, who is in the pipeline but also who is reviewing so i thank you all for your leadership there an ideal back the remainder of my back the remainder of my time. Thank you very much and id like to thank all of our witnesses for their testimony today and without objection all members will have five legislative days to in which to submit additional written questions for the witnesses to provide to the chair which will be ported to the witnesses for their response and i ask our witnesses please respond as promptly as you are able. The committee will now stand in recess for no longer than five minutes and as we transition to our second panel of witnesses. Thank you. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2020] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] ] we welcome our second panel of witnesses. Pamela gibbs, the director, office of minority and women inclusion of the securities and exchange commission