Broker Regulator FINRA Dials Back DEI, Racial Justice Promotion

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has quietly scrubbed its website of pages promoting the broker regulator’s racial justice and diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts amid a conservative backlash against DEI programs.

A FINRA web page titled, “Working to Advance Racial Justice,” disappeared this month, according to a Bloomberg Law review of the nonprofit organization’s website. A “Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI)” page vanished sometime after an internet archiving tool last spotted it in July.

Both now redirect to an “Inclusive Workplace” page, describing FINRA’s commitment “to fostering an inclusive and equitable workplace” within its own offices. Direct references to “racial justice,” the phrase “diversity, equity, and inclusion,” and the “DEI” acronym are absent from the page, as is information about related FINRA initiatives targeting the brokers the organization oversees and the communities they serve. The changes came as FINRA reworked the design and content of its home page this year.

FINRA, which Congress authorized to police more than 624,000 brokers, “should be abolished,” according to the Project 2025 “Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise,” a roadmap for a Republican administration which warns financial regulators against pursuing DEI policies, drawing on concerns the programs are discriminatory. President-elect Donald Trump has tried to distance himself from the project’s recommendations, though former officials and trusted advisers from his presidential administration spearheaded the effort.

A conservative anti-DEI campaign has led Ford Motor Co., Lowe’s Cos., and other companies to rejigger policies. The National Legal and Policy Center also has introduced proxy proposals pressuring the boards of McDonald’s Corp., JPMorgan Chase & Co., and American Express Co. to reconsider current policies linking executive pay to diversity goals.

The House Oversight and Accountability Committee on Wednesday is marking up a bill that would dismantle DEI programs at agencies across the federal government and for companies that hold federal contracts. The bill faces long odds of being enacted this session of Congress with time running out on the calendar and Democrats in control of the Senate. But it signals potential priorities next year with Republicans leading both chambers and Trump returning to the White House.

“FINRA has been revamping FINRA.org over a period of months as we continually work to improve the user experience, and that process is ongoing,” FINRA spokesperson Ray Pellecchia said in a statement to Bloomberg Law on Tuesday. He declined to comment further.

‘Diversity’ Becomes ‘Differences’

FINRA’s racial justice page had existed since at least 2021, detailing its efforts to fight racism and discrimination within the organization, the financial services industry, and elsewhere, according to information preserved by internet archiver the Wayback Machine. The page, last archived in August, served as an information hub for a now-defunct Racial Justice Task Force at FINRA.

The regulator created the task force in 2020 after George Floyd’s murder by police led to a corporate reckoning over the treatment of minorities. FINRA disbanded the task force in 2022, folding the group’s work into the Diversity Leadership Council the regulator created in 2009. The council has 22 FINRA employees “tasked with developing and implementing a robust diversity and inclusion strategy” at the organization, according to the group’s web page.

The racial justice page listed several FINRA initiatives, including investor education aimed at diverse communities, outreach to underrepresented firms, and the regulator’s Industry Diversity Advisory Committee. The panel, launched in 2022 to improve DEI in the securities industry, is still active.

The new “Inclusive Workplace” page pulls language from FINRA’s now-gone “Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI)” portal—with some tweaks.

“Our diversity makes us stronger—and helps ensure our success,” said the scrubbed DEI page, according to a version archived by the Wayback Machine.

“Our differences makes [sic] us stronger—and helps [sic] ensure our success,” the page on inclusive policies now says.

The DEI page also showcased FINRA diversity, equity, and inclusion reports for 2020, 2021, and 2022. Links to the reports don’t appear on the page covering inclusion, and it’s unclear whether they’re featured anywhere else. There are no signs FINRA has issued annual DEI reports after the 2022 publication.

FINRA’s DEI page also had a link to information about the organization’s annual diversity summit, which isn’t mentioned on the new inclusivity page.

The event most recently took place in October. The theme: “Framing the Future of Inclusion.”