Citi’s Proposed Diverse Benefit Program Is Unlawful, DOL Says

The US Labor Department says a Citigroup Inc. program that would have subsidized diverse investment managers overseeing its worker benefit plans is unlawful, rescinding Biden-era guidance greenlighting the racial equity project.

Citi’s Racial Equity Program, which would have paid “all or some” investment management fees billed by minority- or women-owned businesses, “clearly and unambiguously violates the civil rights laws,” the DOL’s Employee Benefits Security Administration wrote in an advisory opinion Monday.

Citi never implemented the program related to diverse asset managers, according to a company spokesperson. In its advisory opinion Monday, EBSA insisted the company should “take immediate action to ...