The European Commission published a report on benchmarking of diversity practices under the Capital Requirements Directive. The CRD requires banks and investment firms to ensure that the composition of management bodies is sufficiently diverse in terms of age, gender, geographical provenance, education and professional background. Firms are required to put in place a policy promoting management body diversity and to publish the report, the firm's objectives, relevant targets (if any) and the extent to which these have been met. The Commission is required to report to the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union on the results achieved as a result of the requirements of CRD and on the appropriateness of benchmarking diversity practices. The Commission found that improvements could still be made, both for having a policy in place and achieving greater diversity and highlighted the need for firms and supervisors to take steps to ensure that the policies are put in place. In addition, the Commission concluded that the benchmarking of diversity practices is a useful tool for assessing the impact and effectiveness of the CRD requirements over time and to monitor for compliance. The Commission does not consider that any legislative amendments are required at this time. 

View the report.