Bank of America and BlackRock Remove DEI Terms From Reports
Is Wall Street's relationship with DEI changing?
Bank of America and BlackRock have removed references to diversity from their latest annual reports, with both companies referring to it under different rubrics.
This small change speaks to a shift in how major financial institutions are approaching diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies in 2025.
These companies aren’t the only ones – many of the United States’ largest organisations have re-evaluated their stance on DEI since US President Donald Trump’s election in November 2024.
Google, Meta, Walmart and McDonald’s are just a few of the companies to have scaled back DEI commitments since President Trump took office for a second time in January 2025.
President Trump has been expressive in his criticism of corporate DEI policies, with conservative activist groups like the National Center for Public Policy Research (NCPPR) also challenging businesses to roll back on DEI.
A shift in language and a change of priorities
In its 2024 annual report, Bank of America removed all eight mentions of "diversity and inclusion" that had appeared in its previous year's filing.
In several instances, the second-largest US bank replaced the term "diversity" with "opportunity," including renaming its internal "diversity and inclusion" group as the "opportunity and inclusion" group.
BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, made similar changes, reducing the number of times it referenced diversity by four.
A section previously titled "diversity, equity and inclusion" was rebranded as "connectivity and inclusivity."
The company maintained that supporting "diverse perspectives" remains crucial to preventing groupthink but avoided using the term "diversity" explicitly.
The corporate re-evaluation of DEI
Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan defended the bank’s approach at an event in Washington, D.C.
"We have diversity and inclusion at our company,” he said.
“But, step back: we’ve always been the bank of opportunity."
"We are deliberate about the many ways we seek to create an inclusive environment where everyone has the opportunity to achieve their career goals," a Bank of America spokesperson told Yahoo Finance.
Previously, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink has emphasised the company's commitment to DEI.
"Just as we ask of other companies, we have a long-term strategy aimed at improving diversity, equity and inclusion at BlackRock," he wrote in a 2021 letter to shareholders.
The legal and political pressures on DEI
The removal of diversity-focused language follows a broader trend among major Wall Street firms.
JPMorgan Chase has significantly reduced its mentions of DEI in its filings, while Goldman Sachs has abandoned its prior commitment to avoiding initial public offerings (IPOs) for companies with all-white male boards.
Citigroup, too, has taken steps to scale back its DEI policies, with CEO Jane Fraser recently announcing that the bank would no longer require new hires to be selected from a diverse applicant pool.
"It is important to note that we’re living in an environment where things are changing quickly," Jane explained in a memo to employees.
Corporate reactions remain cautious
Despite these pressures, some companies continue to resist calls to eliminate DEI initiatives entirely.
A proposal from the NCPPR urging Apple to scrap its DEI efforts was rejected by a majority of the company’s shareholders, highlighting ongoing corporate and investor support for diversity initiatives even as public discourse around them shifts.
For financial institutions like Bank of America and BlackRock, the decision to modify DEI language without explicitly abandoning such policies suggests a balancing act — maintaining commitments to inclusion while mitigating legal and political risks.
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