The E.U. strategy on diversity management in the banking sector

In the E.U., immediately after the financial crisis of 2007-2009, some legislative measures were taken on the subject of diversity. The interventions of the legislator emphasized the relevance of diversity of sex, age, cultural back-ground, and geographical origin both in the composition of the administrative and control bodies and in the management of companies. In more recent years, the E.U. legislator has focused its attention on the issue of sustainability and on the reporting of the results that companies achieve from an environmental, social and governance point of view. The production of legislation has also been accompanied by an intense proliferation of academic literature amid a growing concern among the business world about the integration of ESG objectives into the usual financial and economic purposes of companies. In this context, the management of diversity and, consequently, the attitude of companies toward inclusion, has become not only a declination of sustainability, but also a way to better integrate ESG goals into company strategy. This was particularly evident in the banking sector, where monitoring in the pursuit of diversity management and sustainability objectives was strengthened by the role of the sector’s supervisory (both E.U. and local) authorities. The aim of the manuscript is to analyse – through empirical research conducted on a sample of the E.U. top listed banks – how the E.U.’s diversity strategy has been implemented in the banking sector and whether it cannot be separated from the simultaneous achievement of the objectives of inclusion and sustainability. It also aims to detect how diversity and inclusion policies are described in non-financial reports of banks.