Goldman Sachs won’t list your company if only white men are on the board

Article here. Excerpt:

'Goldman Sachs, one of the world's leading advisers on IPOs, will no longer take companies in the US and Europe public if they have boards made up entirely of white men.

Speaking to CNBC at the World Economic Forum at Davos on 23 January, the US investment bank’s chief executive, David Solomon, said: “I think from a governance perspective, diversity on boards is a very, very important issue. We have been very, very focused on it. So we’re trying to find ways to encourage that.”

From 30 June, Goldman will insist that every company it helps with an initial public offering in its two core regions (Europe and the US) have at least one “diverse director”. This will increase to two in June 2021.

The bank plans to work with companies it is currently advising on how to improve their diversity representation before any pre-June listing, including by providing access to a network of potential candidates.'