The boards of directors of the Federal Reserve's 12 regional banks, including their leadership ranks, got less diverse by gender and race in 2024, going against a years-long trend, data released by the U.S. central bank on Friday showed.
Women now hold 10 of the 24 leadership positions at the bank boards, a Reuters review of the new appointments shows, down from 13 female chairs and vice chairs on last year's boards. Fourteen of the chairs and vice chairs appointed this year identify as Black, Hispanic, or otherwise non-white, the Fed said.
In 2023, the bank board leadership group had been majority women and majority minorities.
More broadly of the 108 spots on the 12 Fed bank boards, 39% are filled by women, down from 44% last year, a review of the data shows. Some 37% are held by people of color, down from 41% last year.
Even so, the Fed's bank boards still have a much higher proportion of non-white and female directors than the U.S. average. Nationally the U.S. population is just over half women, and about 42% are people of color, Census data shows.
Fed bank presidents, who together with the Washington-based Fed Board set U.S. short-term interest rates, meet frequently with their boards to get their insights on the state of the economy and credit conditions.
Their boards have in recent years become increasingly diverse, a change that Fed policymakers have said gives them a critical edge as seek to set monetary policy appropriately.
It is unclear how much this year's relatively less diverse group of directors will impact the information-gathering of policymakers.
Fed policymakers themselves are a more diverse group than in years past; seven of the 19 total are women, and seven are people of color.
The Washington-based Fed board picks three of each nine-member Fed bank board, including the chair and deputy chair. The other six directors are picked by member banks.
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