Civil Rights Group Rates Banks on LGBT Equality

The Human Rights Campaign Foundation said Thursday that more than 20 banking and financial services companies received a perfect score on its corporate equality index.

The CEI measures advances in the workplace for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality based on 40 specific policies and practices, such as whether a company offers comprehensive healthcare to transgender employees.

Capital One Financial Corp., American Express Co., Wells Fargo & Co., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bank of America Corp., TD Bank N.A., Citigroup Inc., U.S Bancorp and Freddie Mac, among others, all received perfect scores. Fiserv Inc., M&T Bank Corp. and Sovereign Bancorp Inc. were toward the bottom of financial companies with a score of 15% each.

To achieve a perfect score, the Human Rights Campaign said that companies must have fully-inclusive equal employment opportunity policies, provide equal employment benefits and show their commitment to equality publicly.

Only 13 businesses achieved a top score when the CEI was first completed in 2002. This year 190 corporations received a perfect score.

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