Dodd/Frank Section 342

In 2010, Members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) and Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) championed Section 342 of the Dodd/Frank Wall Street Reform Act of 2010. Section 342 mandated the creation of Offices of Minority and Women Inclusion (OMWI) at key Agencies who regulate the financial services sector.

The OMWI offices were tasked with crafting policies that enhance the Agency’s workforce diversity and inclusion performance, enhances the Agency’s supplier diversity performance and to assess the diversity and inclusion performance of firms regulated by the Agency.  In 2017, the OMWI Directors disseminated self-assessment tools to regulated entities to encourage disclosure of diversity performance data.  The OMWI Directors plan to aggregate diversity performance data and are allowing regulated entities to provide data submissions anonymously.  Nevertheless, questions remain regarding the potential for FOIA requests and the oversight role of Congress.  The OMWI Directors are considering efforts to access the EEO-1 filings of covered entities. While the OMWI Directors have sought collaboration with regulated entities, covered firms should fully consider a range of factors when sharing performance data.