Citi is the first to share its unadjusted gender pay gap — and, better yet, set targets for improvement. Bankers will be getting to know the progressive female freshmen who are storming D.C. a lot better, thanks to a newly reconfigured House Financial Services Committee under Rep. Maxine Waters. A shareholder lawsuit calls into question the corporate conspiracy of silence on sexual abusers. Plus, lots of fintech people moves and Gillette’s controversial #MeToo message.
Mind the gap: Citigroup disclosed that female employees globally earn 29% less than their male counterparts and that, among U.S. employees, people of color earn 7% less than whites, based on unadjusted figures. “The numbers are difficult,” said Sara Wechter, Citi’s global head of human resources. “We should obviously be at 100% parity, and that’s what we’re striving for.” The company said it aims to reduce its raw pay gap over time and, as a starting point, set a goal to increase representation at the assistant vice president through managing director levels to at least 40% for women globally and 8% for black employees in the states by the end of 2021. Citi noted that it is the first company to disclose its global unadjusted figures, which reflect the fact that white men hold a disproportionate share of higher-paying positions compared with women and people of color. The disclosure was prompted by a (now withdrawn) shareholder proposal from Arjuna Capital.
“A ton of anger”: Leading male economists offered an unprecedented acknowledgment of sexual harassment and discrimination in the field at the American Economic Association’s annual meeting in Atlanta, as female economists spoke up about their #MeToo experiences and called for change. “Economics certainly has a problem,” Ben Bernanke, the former Federal Reserve chairman, who took over as AEA president this year, said during a panel discussion. The profession has “a reputation for hostility toward women and minorities,” he said. Janet Yellen, who was the first female chair of the Fed and will head the AEA next year, said that addressing the issue “should be the highest priority” for economists in the years to come. “There’s just a ton of anger and resentment around how the profession has been,” Elisabeth Perlman, an economist with the Census Bureau, said at the meeting. Perlman added that the profession must address the misconduct that was allowed to go unchecked for decades.
Janet Yellen, chair of the U.S. Federal Reserve, looks on during a panel discussion at the European Central Bank (ECB) central bank communications conference in Frankfurt, Germany, on Tuesday, Nov. 14, 2017. More transparent communication on monetary policy intentions is effective and probably here to stay, four of the worlds most-powerful central bankers agreed on Tuesday. Photographer: Alex Kraus/Bloomberg
Alex Kraus/Bloomberg
The focus is on fintech: LearnVest founder and ex-Northwestern Mutual chief innovation officer Alexa von Tobel is seeking $200 million to launch an investment fund called Inspired Capital. It would be one of the largest funds ever launched by a woman if she hits her target amount. Given von Tobel’s experience with creating one of the earliest robo-advisers — which she sold to Northwestern Mutual in 2015 for a reported $250 million — the new fund is expected to concentrate on fintech, with a particular emphasis on ideas that help underserved populations. Von Tobel has been an active angel investor, and the companies she has invested in include Propel, which makes an app to help people better manage their food stamps.
Last call: Don’t miss the deadline to submit your application for our “Most Powerful Women in Banking: Next” program. This list will highlight outstanding female leaders ages 40 and under who work in retail and commercial banking. The honorees will receive their awards at our LEAD conference May 22 — join us there.
Notes from D.C.
New subcommittee on diversity: Rep. Maxine Waters discussed her legislative priorities as the new chair of the House Financial Services Committee in a speech on Wednesday. The California Democrat also touted a subcommittee on diversity and inclusion she is adding to focus on improving diversity in the financial services industry. “There is a growing body of research showing a connection between the level of diversity at a company and the strength of its financial performance,” said Waters, who is the first woman and the first African-American to chair the committee.
In the spotlight: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., is joining the House Financial Services Committee. So look for her disruptive spotlight to be turned on bankers soon, American Banker writes in its analysis. Ocasio-Cortez, who has become a social media star since her stunning upset of former Rep. Joe Crowley in the Democratic primary, tweeted that she is especially interested in addressing the student loan crisis and the development of public and postal banking. On Friday morning, the 29-year-old, who has more than 2 million Twitter followers, gave her fellow Democrats in Congress a tutorial on how to use social media to connect with people.
Freshmen finance squad: Of the 16 Democrats being added to the Financial Services Committee, 10 are women. Though Ocasio-Cortez is getting most of the attention, other newly elected women about to become a lot more familiar to bankers include: Katie Porter of California, an understudy of Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.; Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts; Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, who recently got national attention for using an expletive while saying she wanted to impeach President Trump; and Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, who also happens to be a newly announced presidential contender. The Republicans added five new members to the committee — all men. The sole female Republican on the committee is Rep. Ann Wagner, R-Mo. See the full list of new committee members here. (You can also read more about what to expect in general from the “freshman Congressional renegades” in this entertaining overview from U.S. News & World Report.)
Officially running: The Democratic field in the 2020 presidential race is expanding quickly, with Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and Rep. Gabbard joining Sen. Warren as candidates. And get this: On Wednesday, at Gillibrand’s first press conference since saying she would run, the first question she received was about the notorious “likability” factor (and, yes, it was from a male reporter). Gillibrand, who entered the Senate in 2009 to fill the New York seat vacated by Hillary Clinton, is expected to make gender a big part of her campaign. She has been vocal on issues like sexual harassment, military sexual assault, equal pay for women and paid family leave. Gabbard, an Iraq War veteran, is the first American Samoan and the first Hindu member of Congress. But she is considered controversial because of past comments she has made on foreign policy and LGBTQ rights. As for Warren, she is a familiar critic who already bashed banks in her first campaign swing and is sure to keep the industry in the headlines as the battle for the White House heats up.
Role Call
Sallie Mae has appointed Donna Vieira as its chief marketing officer. Vieira most recently served as JPMorgan Chase’s CMO for consumer banking and wealth management. She will oversee product development, sales, marketing, government relations and communications for Sallie Mae’s consumer businesses, including private student loans, retail banking, personal loans and credit cards.
Colleen Canny is the new head of the retail network for Santander Bank in Boston. Canny, a 30-year JPMorgan Chase veteran, now oversees more than 600 branches and 4,100 employees across Santander’s eight-state territory. She arrives at a pivotal time for the $74 billion-asset U.S. unit of Spain’s Banco Santander, which is raising its profile through a new branding campaign and transforming its branches into smaller, advice-based financial centers. At JPMorgan, Canny was most recently managing director and regional director of consumer banking and wealth management in Illinois and Wisconsin.
Santander is also continuing to expand in commercial banking with the hire of Emily Vaughan Alexandersonto lead one of its specialized banking groups. She will oversee a business unit focused on education, nonprofits, professional services, technology and life sciences firms, and will report to Patricia Packard, the bank's director of government and specialized banking. Alexanderson joined Santander from athenahealth, and before that worked for RBS Global Markets.
Mary Kay Bowman, Square’s head of payments, has joined Visa as head of seller solutions, where she is tasked with transforming the payment experience. Bowman will report to Visa’s chief product officer, Jack Forestell. She’d been a big hire for Square in 2015, coming from Amazon.
The high-profile departure at Square comes after its chief financial officer, Sarah Friar, left not so long ago to become chief executive of the neighborhood social networking site Nextdoor. Square recently said it hired Amrita Ahuja to replace Friar. Ahuja had been the CFO of Blizzard Entertainment, a division of the gaming company Activision Blizzard that has developed popular titles like “World of Warcraft.” Ahuja also has worked for Morgan Stanley in the past.
The fintech startup Even has expanded its executive ranks with some new hires from Facebook, LendUp and Stripe. Even, which helps people living paycheck to paycheck create budgets and borrow against future earnings, recruited Olivia Bishop, its director of product engineering, from Facebook; Swati Karandikar, its chief compliance officer, from LendUp; and Emily Luk, its chief of staff, from Stripe. Even also added Kelly Breslin Wright, former executive vice president of sales at Tableau, to its board of directors. Jon Schlossberg, Even’s CEO, talked about the company’s deal with Walmart, its prominent new investor, and its hiring strategy in this interesting interview with American Banker.
LendUp is getting new leadership as it splits into two separate companies. The fintech startup will focus on subprime lending while a new business, called Mission Lane, handles credit card operations. At LendUp, General Manager Anu Shultes takes over as CEO, succeeding co-founder Sasha Orloff, and joins the board. “She’s an absolutely fearless leader,” Orloff said of Shultes. “I’m equally excited about the impact Anu will make on the industry as one of the few female CEOs in fintech.” LendUp’s executive team also includes Kathleen Fitzpatrick, head of engineering, Jotaka Eaddy, head of government affairs and social impact, and Pia Thompson, general counsel and chief risk officer.
PayPal has named Allison Johnson as its CMO — which is a post the company axed in 2013 but decided to revive as it diversifies into new lines of business like cross-border remittances, mobile money transfers, loans to small and medium-size enterprises and more. Johnson most recently was a founder and managing partner for West, a hybrid marketing and venture-capital firm, before leaving that role in March. She previously served as vice president of worldwide marketing communications at Apple from 2005 through 2011 and as a senior marketing executive at HP.
PayPal also has added Debbie Messemer to its board, increasing it to 12 members. Messemer was the managing partner of KPMG’s Bay Area and Northwest region before she retired in September. “With Debbie’s appointment, our board is now 50% diverse,” Dan Schulman, PayPal’s president and CEO, said in announcing Messemer’s appointment Thursday. “I firmly believe that diversity of backgrounds and perspectives will help us more effectively deliver our vision to create a more inclusive global economy.”
Beyond banking
Razor’s edge: Gillette’s new razor commercial, addressing how so-called toxic masculinity can hurt both men and women, is getting a lot of attention, amassing nearly 20 million views in a few days. The men’s rights contingent is not happy with the #MeToo-inspired message, but some argue that’s just more evidence of a cultural problem. A survey by Morning Consult found that 61% of consumers had a favorable reaction to the ad, rating it seven or higher on a scale of 10 (where zero is “very negative” and 10 is “very positive”). Political attitudes rather than gender fueled the most opposition. View the ad on YouTube here.
Truth or consequences: The norm is for companies to keep quiet about sexual harassment even when they let go of the perpetrator (a conspiracy of silence that we have questioned here before). One of the more eye-popping stories along those lines has been that of Android founder Andy Rubin. Could the latest twist in the Rubin saga change the calculus in corporate America that perpetuates the dangerous secrecy about such misconduct? Recall that Rubin was quietly awarded a $90 million exit package by Google’s parent company, Alphabet, after an internal investigation determined a female employee’s accusations that he coerced her into oral sex were credible (as a New York Times story later revealed). In response, Google employees staged a walkout in November to protest how the company handles harassment complaints — and now Alphabet shareholders are suing the board of directors. The lawsuit, filed in California Superior Court, said minutes from board meetings showed that the directors had agreed to ask for Rubin’s resignation while approving the payment in order to keep the matter quiet, the Times reports. “As such, members of Alphabet’s board were knowing and direct enablers of the sexual harassment and discrimination,” the lawsuit said.
Several banks that boosted their capital bases this year saw their stock prices rise, a new analysis finds. The positive reception may drive more such activity.
Richard "Dick" Parsons, the former Citigroup chairman who died Thursday, is credited with helping the New York megabank survive the financial crisis. Earlier in his career, he led Dime Savings Bank out of the savings-and-loan crisis.
A passivity agreement with the FDIC means that when the asset management giant Vanguard owns more than 10% of an FDIC-overseen bank, it can't seek certain levels of control over the bank's behavior.
The Seattle-based company's deal with Bank of America comes five weeks after the termination of its planned sale to FirstSun Capital Bancorp in Denver.
