"Merrill Lynch has demonstrated its commitment to putting the customer first by creating tangible ways to communicate with and serve investors from all backgrounds. As America’s demographics change, we need to alter the way we promote investing in the markets. Merrill Lynch’s Multicultural and Diversified Business Development Group has done just that by creating a blueprint for how its Financial Advisors – and the industry – can help investors of every background achieve their long-term financial goals,” said SIA Chairman Richard E. Thornburgh, vice chairman of the Executive Board of Credit Suisse First Boston and a member of the Executive Board of Credit Suisse Group.
Merrill Lynch’s Multicultural and Diversified Business Development Group segments its target audiences by market (South Asian; Hispanic/Latino; African-American; American Indian; women; and, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender). Each unit performs research to develop a plan for that market; identifies the constituency’s needs; creates community relationship and development programs by ethnicity and locale; and, customizes the marketing and communications campaigns. The group has also built into these programs diversity recruiting, training, and development goals. A team of dedicated Financial Advisors then participates in each market’s initiatives, including training and investor education programs for clients and employees.
"We are honored to receive this award, and see it more as a beginning than an end,” said Gorman. “Merrill Lynch is bullish on diversity in the marketplace and in the workplace because of the enormous opportunity it presents for our firm.”
SIA's Diversity Committee selected the winner after a review of diversity programs at SIA member-firms. The award is one in a series of initiatives that the association has undertaken to help member-firms develop corporate cultures that sharpen their ability to provide products and services to a diverse marketplace and to promote inclusion in the workforce. Other SIA efforts include: The Diversity Practices and Resources Guide; a Web page on diversity; participation in career fairs; teleconferences to share diversity “best practice” initiatives; and, a survey of diversity initiatives by securities firms.
