BMO Financial Group is introducing a new diversity strategy that sets goals to address gaps affecting Black, Indigenous, People of Colour, Latino and LGBTQ2+ employees, customers and communities.

The new benchmarks and plans, which expand the bank’s multi-year diversity strategy set in 2017, includes doubling company-wide representation of Black senior leaders, accelerating Indigenous talent strategies, introducing an LGBTQ2+ representation goal and sustaining a strong gender equity position.

“Our commitment to create a more inclusive society is unwavering and our renewed diversity strategy is one of the ways we’re driving meaningful change for our employees, customers and local communities,” said Darryl White, chief executive officer at BMO Financial Group, in a press release. “These ambitious goals will help us achieve our vision of eliminating barriers to inclusion in society by directly addressing gaps in representation across our organization and the financial services industry to create opportunities for all.”

Read: Scotiabank to increase workforce diversity, combat racial discrimination in workplace

Specifically, BMO’s renewed diversity strategy focuses on underrepresented employees, with yearly milestones set in order to reach its goals. These include:

  • Increasing representation of Black employees in senior leadership roles to 3.5 per cent and seven per cent in Canada and the U.S., respectively;
  • Increasing representation of people of colour employees in senior leadership roles to 30 per cent or greater in Canada and the U.S., respectively;
  • Increasing representation of Latino employees in senior leadership roles to seven per cent in the U.S.;
  • Sustaining its current gender equity position with a range of 40 to 60 per cent representation in senior leadership roles across the organization;
  • Increasing representation of Black and Latino interns and entry-level employees to 30 per cent in the U.S. and ensuring 40 per cent of student opportunities in Canada are directed to BIPOC youth;
  • Increasing representation of Indigenous Peoples across the workforce in Canada to 1.6 per cent;
  • Increasing representation of persons with disabilities within a range of five to seven per cent of the workforce; and
  • Introducing an LGBTQ2+ representation goal of three per cent of the workforce.

In the press release, BMO also noted the new benchmarks were developed with a combination of inputs including data-driven trends, labour market availability and internal and external environmental factors. They’ll be reviewed on an ongoing basis by the bank’s performance committee, which is chaired by White.

Read: OPB outlines commitment to stand against anti-Black, anti-Indigenous racism