Swiss bank UBS has removed all references to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I) from its 2024 annual report. Neither the acronym nor the full term appears in the business or sustainability report of the bank. In contrast to last year, which included detailed descriptions of the DE&I strategy, UBS now uses a more neutral language.
This change comes against the backdrop of growing skepticism towards DE&I initiatives, particularly in the United States. Following the return of Donald Trump to the White House, the US government has halted all state programs in this area. The executive order “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing” marks a political shift, which many companies, including UBS, seem to be following.
Changes in the report’s wording
While the 2023 business report included clear goals for promoting diversity, the current report is more reticent in its language. The previous strategy was based on four pillars: accountability, recruitment, talent development and creating an inclusive corporate culture, aiming to foster gender and ethnic diversity.
The new report focuses on creating a diverse and inclusive work environment based on meritocracy. The bank emphasizes its goal of establishing a corporate culture where all employees are recognized and valued and can develop their potential. Priority is given to filling positions with the best-suited talents, in order to best serve the interests of customers, business areas, shareholders and society.
Notably, the report no longer includes specific targets. Last year, UBS had set ambitious diversity targets, including a goal for 30% of global leadership positions to be held by women by 2025 and 26% of leadership positions in the US and the UK to be held by individuals from ethnic minority groups. These sections are now missing from the current report. The bank has also stopped publishing the percentage of ethnic minority employees in the US and the UK. Terms like “ethnic affiliation” and “minority” which were common in 2023, are now scarce in the new report.
UBS is following a paradigm shift that is already underway in the US, where some critics view the abandonment of diversity targets as a step backward, while supporters welcome the return to a meritocratic personnel policy.