By Matt Scuffham

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Goldman Sachs Group Inc on Wednesday promoted 643 people to chief executive officer, the bank’s second-largest behind its partner, including a higher proportion of black, Asian and Latino women and workers.

Goldman has set some of the most aggressive and specific goals among major banks, demanding that more black, Latino and female professionals be interviewed and hired for jobs there. The bank says it has interviewed at least two different candidates for any senior job posting.

Thirty percent of those promoted were women, the bank said in an email sent to All and posted on its website. This against 29% in 2019.

Twenty-eight percent of those promoted were Asian, up from 26% in 2019. Five percent were black, up from 4% in 2019 and 5% were Hispanic, up from 2% in 2019.

Three percent were from the LGBTQ + community, up from 2% in 2019.

The appointments also reflect Goldman’s growing presence in locations outside of major financial centers, particularly Bangalore, India; Salt Lake City; and Dallas.

Seventy-two of the promotions were in these “strategic locations”, twice as many as in 2019.

(Reporting by Matt Scuffham; editing by Jonathan Oatis)