Putting a stake in the ground also can expose an investor to scrutiny. State Street, which earned worldwide publicity for its “Fearless Girl” statue, settled a discrimination case in October with more than 300 female executives who said they were paid less than male counterparts. The $5 million payout is small change for a manager of $1.6 trillion in equities, but it was an embarrassing black eye for the firm, which has three women on its 10-person board.
State Street said it chose to settle even though it disagreed with the results of the pay investigation, citing differences in job function and responsibilities.
“It’s more important to focus our resources on initiatives that drive systematic and sustainable change,’’ the Boston-based fund-manager said in a statement.
State Street voted against nominating-committee members at 400 companies. Seven companies it engaged with directly added at least one woman to their boards — State Street’s goal for now.
“One could argue that’s too low,” said Lynn Blake, chief investment officer of global equity beta solutions. “But we needed to start somewhere.”
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.