Morgan Stanley wants more diverse young hires

The firm is announcing an initiative, the Equity Collective, in which wealth and asset management firms commit to working with career-focused community organizations to reach young people from more diverse backgrounds.

Morgan Stanley is introducing an initiative to draw more young people from diverse backgrounds to the finance industry, furthering its outreach efforts a week after appointing to the bank’s board its first woman of color.

“We recognize our industry must do more to reach diverse talent,” Margaret Flynn-Martin, head of relationship management at Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, said in a statement Wednesday. “We are dedicated to increasing access for young talent and proactively raising awareness about the incredible opportunities in our field.”

Members of the Equity Collective, as the new program is called, include 23 wealth and asset management firms, including units of Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Bank of New York Mellon Corp., Pacific Investment Management Co. and Prudential Financial Inc., which have committed to work with career-focused community organizations for at least two years.

The initiative invests early in “under-represented communities, focusing our efforts on increasing the pool of interested and qualified people that consider a career in financial services,” Andy Saperstein, head of Morgan Stanley Wealth Management and co-president of the New York-based bank, said in the statement.

Equity Collective members will partner with Boys & Girls Clubs of America with the aim of reaching 4.6 million 13-to-18-year-olds, join with Team IMPACT to support college athletes and work with virtual recruiting platform HIVE Diversity, which focuses on internships and entry-level placement opportunities.

Last week, Morgan Stanley announced that Erika James, dean of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, was elected as a director, effective Jan. 1. She’s the first woman of color to sit on the board, the bank said at the time.

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