JPMorgan drops ‘equity’ from DEI program

Wall Street Titan JP Morgan Chase makes that change Diversity, Equality, Inclusion (DEI) A memo seen by Fox Business shows that as part of the ongoing reform, banks have gone to keep up with the market and current law.

JPMorgan Chase Chief Operating Officer Jenn Piepszak told employees in a memo on Friday that the banks are replacing the word “equity” with “opportunity.” The programme is known as Diversity, Opportunity and Inclusion (DOI) and will continue to be reported to Thelma Ferguson.

“E” means equal opportunities for us, not equal outcomes at all times. We believe this is more accurately reflecting our ongoing approach to growing our business, creating an inclusive workplace for our employees and increasing access to opportunities,” Piepszak said in a memo.

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Banks are streamlining diversity programs that were already centrally managed by DOI organizations. That is, according to Piepszak, some programs are integrated into a variety of business lines, including HR and corporate responsibility.

JPMorgan also said it will “ensure consistent operational principles and maximum impact” due to increased connectivity between the council, executive forum, business resource groups and DOI organizations. This means that “activities, councils, or chapters may be integrated” to streamline the process, Piepszak added.

The company plans to also reduce the amount of training on such topics.

Piepszak said the company is always committed to merit-based employment, compensation and promotions.

“We work to reduce barriers rather than standards because we know that if you reduce standards, no one can win,” Piepsack said. “We don't pay illegal allocations or incentives. We never let anyone get away from them because of their political or religious beliefs or who they are.”

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JPMorgan told employees in a memo on Friday that the bank is replacing the word “equity” with “opportunity” and renamed the program “diversity, opportunity and inclusion.” (Don Emmert/AFP via Getty Images/Getty Images)

Rather than defining the changes as “corrective action,” the company defined them as part of its organic evolution. He said he has made changes to his diversity programme since 2023.

The memo comes weeks after the bank agreed to update its Code of Conduct to protect against religious and political discrimination. The Diversity and Inclusion section of the Code of Conduct clearly prohibits discrimination against “religious views” and includes languages ​​that prohibit discrimination against clients against “political views.”

More and more companies, from banks to retailers, have made similar announcements to put pressure on large companies to scale back initiatives aimed at increasing racial and gender equality in the workplace. The initiative also faces intense criticism from President Donald Trump, who in January directed the agency to investigate the foundation, association and association's DEI program with at least $500 million in assets.

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Last month, Citigroup said it would no longer require a diverse candidate slate for job interviews, and it had changed its name to its “Diversity, Equity, Inclusive, Human Resource Management” team to “Human Resource Management and Engagement.”

Similarly, Goldman Sachs has cancelled its four-year-old policy of only securing public companies with at least two diverse board members. We also removed the entire section dedicated to “diversity and inclusion” from our annual submission.

David Spector and Reuters from Fox Business contributed to this report.