Merrill Lynch boosts CFP Board diversity efforts with $1.25 million donation

Many financial firms talk about the need to increase diversity in the industry. Merrill Lynch put some money toward the effort Tuesday.

Merrill Lynch Wealth Management donated $1.25 million to the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards Inc. to become the lead sponsor of the CFP Board Center for Financial Planning.

With its contribution, Merrill has given a total of $1.7 million to the center and become its latest founding sponsor. The center was established in 2015 to create a more diverse financial planning profession, with its Diversity Summit as its signature annual event.

Merrill Lynch was one of the first financial firms to release statistics about the diversity of its financial advisers. In the second quarter of this year, about one-third of Merrill’s 93 hires were people of color, Andy Sieg, president of Merrill Lynch Wealth Management, told InvestmentNews.

The firm’s donation is a way of enhancing its work with the Center for Financial Planning.

“We partnered with the Center many years ago to advance our shared goal of increasing diversity within the wealth management profession,” Sieg said in a statement released by the CFP Board. “Merrill financial advisors are on the front lines in our efforts to improve the financial lives of our clients. We are pleased to help the CFP Board support a new generation of CFP professionals that better reflect the diverse communities we serve.”

The CFP Board said the number of female CFPs increased in 2021 to an all-time high of 21,504, or 23.4% of all CFPs. At the end of last year, the number of Black and Hispanic CFPs had increased by 13.8%, but those groups still represented only a fraction of total CFPs — 1.8% and 2.7%, respectively.

The Merrill donation to the financial planning center is a step toward more diversity in the profession, said Ericka Harney, a consultant on nonprofit management and fundraising.

“It’s a start, considering how nondiverse the industry is,” said Harney, former executive director of the Accounting and Financial Women’s Alliance.

In the accounting industry, the Big Four firms — Ernst & Young, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte and KPMG — have been backing diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

“Their support of DEI efforts has been important for quite some time,” Harney said.

Merrill joins Charles Schwab Foundation, Envestnet and Northwestern Mutual as the founding sponsors of the Center for Financial Planning, said Dan Limbago, individual giving officer at the center. Each firm has given more than $1 million.

Part of Merrill’s donation to the center — $100,000 over four years — will be used to create a scholarship for diverse individuals seeking CFP certification, Limbago said. Merrill’s grant also will provide financial support for students to attend the Diversity Summit and will help fund the summit’s career fair.

Merrill’s support of the center raises its visibility on diversity issues and gives it greater access to diverse job candidates, potentially helping with recruiting, Harney said.

“If I had offers from two firms, and one of them has supported diversity efforts and the other hasn’t, I would be more inclined to choose the one that had supported DEI efforts,” she said.

The Merrill donation is the latest of several recent CFP Board announcements about new scholarships and financial support for the center.

“The Center was founded to address systemic challenges within the profession and build a more inclusive talent pipeline, welcoming people with diverse backgrounds as well as attracting younger financial planners,” CFP Board CEO Kevin Keller said in a statement. “Merrill’s support helps to ensure that Center initiatives continue to foster progress and positively impact CFP professionals and those considering CFP certification.”

The CFP Board sets and enforces the competency and ethical standards related to the designation. Last year, there were 92,055 CFPs in the United States.