The CFPB’s Office of Women and Minority Inclusion (OMWI) has issued its first annual report to Congress covering the OMWI’s activities in 2012. The Dodd-Frank Act required the CFPB and various other federal agencies including the Fed, Treasury, OCC, FDIC, NCUA, SEC and FHFA, to establish an OMWI, and also required each OMWI to submit an annual report to Congress.
From industry’s perspective, the most noteworthy task Dodd-Frank assigned to each OMWI was the development of standards to assess the diversity policies and practices of the institutions its agency regulates. The report indicates that the CFPB has participated in an interagency working group consisting of the OMWI directors from the FDIC, Fed, NCUA, OCC and SEC “to explore the possibility of creating a common standard” for making such assessments. According to the report, the working group plans to publish draft standards for public comment in 2013.
In addition, the report notes that in February 2013, the CFPB entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to access employment demographic survey data (known as EEO-1 data) that employers must file annually. The report indicates that the CFPB plans to use this data “as a starting point to analyze the composition of regulated entities.”
Another task of an OMWI is to develop standards for creating diversity in an agency’s own workforce. According to the report, as of December 19, 2012, the CFPB’s workforce totaled 1,074 employees, of whom 520 (48.4%) were female and 554 (51.6% ) were male. In addition, of those employees, 66.2% self-identified as White and 33.8% self-identified as other than White. The report states that developing initiatives to recruit and develop Hispanic employees is a focus for the CFPB.
With regard to procurement, the report indicates that in calendar year 2012, the CFPB entered into 286 contracts, totaling approximately $86.2 million. Of the total contract dollars awarded in 2012, the report states that over 8% went to women-owned businesses and over 11% went to minority-owned businesses (consisting of businesses owned by Hispanics, African-Americans, Asian/Pacific Islanders and American Indians/Alaskan Natives).