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August 26, 2019 • Issue 19:08:02

Moving toward a more

diverse industry

advancing women in the workforce. "As a leading global
company, we have a responsibility to leverage our resourc-
es and energy to make a positive impact on our employees,
our clients and our communities," said Vivian Greentree,
senior vice president for corporate citizenship at Fiserv,
which now owns First Data.
For federally regulated financial services firms, workplace
diversity isn't just a good idea; it's become a regulatory im-
perative. The 2010 Dodd-Frank Act, among other things,
required federal financial regulatory agencies to establish
individual offices of minority and women inclusion to pro-
mote diversity on their staffs.
The agencies also were told to develop standards for as-
sessing diversity and inclusion programs related to U.S.
operations of regulated companies, as well as the service
providers of those companies. Those standards, published
in 2015, are voluntary. However institutions are encouraged
By Patti Murphy to assess their inclusion policies and practices annually to

here's been a major push in recent years toward provide those assessments to their primary financial regu-
greater diversity in the workforce, and merchant lators, and also post the assessments to their websites.
acquiring is no exception. In February, which
T is celebrated each year as Black History Month, KPMG, in a 2016 report, noted that while the standards are
leading acquirer TSYS held weekly celebrations of the his- recommended practices "failing to adhere to them could in-
tory and heritage of African Americans, and offered an in- crease reputational risk at a time when many firms are un-
depth blog post highlighting the achievements of several der regulatory and public scrutiny with respect to culture
African American employees. and business conduct."

"Celebrating diversity and various cultures has always
been engrained in TSYS' values," said Ashley Thompson,
government relations analyst at TSYS. "Ensuring diversity Contributed articles inside by:
of thoughts and backgrounds will only lead to more inno-
vation and encourage effective team collaboration." Dee and Emily Karawadra .................................................................32

Major acquirer First Data Corp. has been nationally recog- Adam Atlas ..............................................................................................36
nized for its work maintaining a diverse, inclusive work- Jeff Fortney .............................................................................................38
place, and was included in the 2018 Bloomberg Equality Hervé Sinelle-Botinelly .......................................................................40
Index, which tracks commitments by public companies to
TOC on page 3

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