CFPB Publishes Report on Promoting Diversity and Inclusion in the Mortgage Industry

The CFPB recently released their Report on Promoting Diversity and Inclusion in the Mortgage Industry (Report).  The purpose of the Report was to summarize various strategies that promote diversity and inclusion by the mortgage industry and to provide information related to a roundtable that met late last year that included participants from the mortgage industry and also representatives from the CFPB’s Office of Minority and Women Inclusion (OMWI), OCC, FDIC, Federal Reserve and FHFA.

Issues discussed by roundtable participants are highlighted in the Report and discuss strategies and practices that include:

• The business case for diversity and inclusion;
• The importance of leadership buy-in and accountability;
• Recruiting, hiring, inclusion, retention, advancement, and engagement;
• Broadening the customer base with new business products; and
• The importance of data.

The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 required the creation of an Office of Minority and Women Inclusion at the federal agencies identified above as participants at the roundtable.  Other agencies required to create an OMWI, but that were not listed as participants at the roundtable included: Treasury, National Credit Union Administration, Securities and Exchange Commission, and each Federal Reserve Bank. Each OMWI has a duty to develop standards for the diversity of their respective workforces, increasing diversity in programs and contracts, and assessing diversity policies and practices of entities regulated by the agency.  The CFPB’s Report may be accessed here.