Citigroup shares gain for a second straight session on Friday, bank taps Erika Brown, Goldman Sachs’ chief diversity officer

Citigroup Inc (C) announced on its website last week that it had appointed Erika Irish Brown to head its global diversity strategy.

Brown will join the Wall Street bank as its chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer from rival Goldman Sachs, where she had been head of diversity and inclusion strategy since mid-2018.

With Brown serving as chief diversity officer, Goldman Sachs set an objective, according to which 11% of all new analysts and entry-level associates hired in the United States and 9% hired in the United Kingdom should be of Black origin, 14% should be of Latino origin and 50% should be women.

A Goldman Sachs memo to staff revealed that Megan Hogan would replace Erika Brown. Hogan will also retain her duties as Chief Operating Officer of Goldman Sachs’s internal Global Inclusion and Diversity Committee.

Citigroup shares closed higher for a second consecutive trading session in New York on Friday. The stock went up 1.81% ($1.30) to $73.02, after touching an intraday high at $73.21, or a price level not seen since March 19th ($73.58).

Shares of Citigroup Inc have risen 18.42% so far in 2021 compared with a 5.82% gain for the benchmark index, S&P 500 (SPX).

In 2020, Citigroup Inc’s stock went down 22.82%, thus, it underperformed the S&P 500, which registered a 16.26% gain.