Scotiabank has renewed its Diversity and Inclusion Goals, developed to increase the diversity of its employee population over the next five years, with a focus on people who identify as Black, Indigenous peoples, visible minorities, people with disabilities and women.

The new goals include doubling representation by Indigenous employees, significantly increasing the number of employees who identify as those with a disability, ongoing advancement of the BlackNorth CEO pledge and bolstering the global number of women in executive roles.

Committed to being bank of choice

"We are committed to becoming the bank of choice for the diverse communities we serve and remain confident that our commitments will help remove barriers and build a stronger and more inclusive society," said Brian Porter, Scotiabank’s president and CEO. "While our work to build a truly inclusive organization is never complete, we are pleased with the progress we have made."

Scotiabank's renewed diversity strategy focuses on under-represented employees, with annual milestones set to reach its diversity and inclusion goals in Canada.

The bank has set benchmarks that were developed with a combination of data-driven trends, labour market availability and internal and external environmental factors.

The bank has invested significantly in its diversity and inclusion efforts: today, 39 per cent of its workforce in Canada identifies as being a visible minority, 56 per cent identify as women; 5.7 per cent identify as being LGBTQ+ and over 50 per cent of student hires are Black, indigenous or people of colour.