Goldman Sachs to insist that companies it takes public have diverse boards

Goldman Sachs has become the first Wall Street bank to declare it will not take companies public in the U.S. and Europe unless they have at least one “diverse” candidate on their board — but failed to include Asia, which has the worst record on gender diversity.

Chief Executive David Solomon on Thursday said diversity on corporate boards was a “very, very important issue,” with evidence showing that companies that made their stock market debut with at least one female director were likely to perform “significantly better” than others.

“Starting on July 1 in the U.S. and Europe, we’re not going to take a company public unless there’s at least one diverse board candidate, with a focus on women,” he told CNBC. “And we’re going to move towards 2021 requesting two.”...