DAMI Applauds California’s Efforts to Improve Transparency On Diversity of Asset Managers Industry
For Immediate Release: October 5, 2021
Contact: Carolyn Clendenin, cclendenin@rabengroup.com, 347-869-7382
Diverse Asset Managers Initiative Statement:
We Applaud California’s Efforts to Improve Transparency On Diversity of Asset Managers Industry
Washington, D.C. - Yesterday, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 890, which requires the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS) and the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) to submit comprehensive, in-depth annual reports on their utilization of emerging and diverse managers. These systems will now have to provide details on when diverse or emerging managers were first contracted, the amount managed by each of these managers by asset class, and more.
Robert Raben, executive director and founder of the Diverse Asset Managers Initiative -- an effort to bolster racial and gender representation in the asset managers industry -- issued the following statement in response:
“We applaud California legislators’ efforts to acquire comprehensive, detailed information on the diversity of people managing the pension plans of so many Californians. Study after study shows that diversity is crucial to maximizing performance. If pension managers remain overwhelmingly white and male, as is the status quo, hard-working Californians will miss out on potential retirement funds.
“The legislators’ previous move to require the University of California to report its diversity data has been transformative, pushing the system to be best-in-class in the nation with respect to tracking and reporting.
“Data provides us with the foundation to do better moving forward. By being transparent and carefully re-evaluating existing protocols, we can improve diverse representation. We hope that other states will follow California’s lead and employ similar reporting requirements.”
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The Diverse Asset Managers Initiative is an effort to increase the absolute number of, and assets under management by, diverse-owned asset management firms for institutional investors, with specific focus on public, corporate, faith and labor union pension funds as well as foundation and university endowments.