The bank will be supporting minorities with small businesses and those wanting to enter the financial industry
Royal Bank of Canada has pledged $150 million to initiatives aiming to increase the number of non-white executives.
The bank is pushing to grow the proportion of Black and Indigenous top-level officials from the current 20% to around 30%. However, RBC gave no specific timeline as to when this target would be reached, Reuters reported.
Of RBC’s pledged sum, $100 million will be going to loans over a five-year period to Black owners of small businesses. The remaining $50 million will be invested until 2025 into 25,000 openings for Black, Indigenous, and people of colour.
Starting next year, RBC will also establish annual internships and better hiring rates for Black and Indigenous professionals in Canada, the US, and the UK.
The announcements came in the wake of similar commitments by Manulife Financial Corp (which will be investing $3.5 million on diversity initiatives) and Bank of Nova Scotia (which promised $500,000 to anti-discrimination organizations).
“We know we’re not immune from systemic bias and racism, and we believe we have more work to do to better understand, identify and address issues that impede the success of Black, Indigenous and other racialized groups in our workforce,” RBC said.
