U.S. Banks Reported Relaxing Barriers for Jews to Become Executives

Major banking firms in the United States are beginning to show a willingness to grant equal opportunity to Jews who wish to make an executive career in banking, the results of a study made public here today by the American Jewish Committee revealed.

The two-year survey in Philadelphia of employment practices in major banks has found that some barriers to Jews on executive levels in banking still persist. However, “the door is no longer firmly shut, ” the survey emphasized. The study points out that “Jewish are neither sought after nor seek entry into the field.”This study was the pilot project for similar surveys of major banks throughout the country. Philadelphia was chosen because it has been historically known as the “cradle of American finance” and is considered representative of banking throughout the United States.

The survey showed that in Philadelphia, Jews comprise 25 percent of the college graduates. In contrast, only slightly more than one-half of one percent of the officers at the six largest banks were Jewish. Four of these six banks had no Jewish officers at all despite the fact that most bank officers are drawn from the ranks of college graduates.

In an effort to understand the reason for the small number of Jews in banking, the American Jewish Committee arranged a series of interviews with bank officials, college and university placement staffs, and others related to the general field. Meetings were held with ranking officers among the six major banks and a number of the smaller banks.

While top level bankers are opposed to discrimination, the study found that “the image of the Jew that exists among some bankers may affect their attitude toward engaging Jewish candidates. Dispelling this image will serve to open up a whole new source of executive training manpower.”

BANKERS ACKNOWLEDGE HOSTILITY TOWARD JEWS IN HIRING PERSONNEL

Responding to the survey, some of the bankers acknowledged that even on lower and middle levels of banking sane hostility might exist toward Jews. This, they said, is frequently a product of the fear of competition, The bankers stressed that they consider this a minor problem which can be corrected. “It should be noted, however,” the survey report commented, “that the hiring of new personnel often takes place at this level.”

Despite the existence of a number of “negative stereotypes” about Jews among some bankers, the interviewers were concerned “that opportunities exist for Jews in banking. ” In this connection, the report points out “It is interesting to note that since this study was begun, one of the largest banks named its first Jewish member to the board and two others have hired their first Jewish executive trainees.

Generally, the AJC pointed out, there has been a gradual easing of barriers in banking due mainly to “important changes taking place in the field. ” Most significant among these changes has been the need for talented individuals as a result of the growing complexity of the field, increased “competition for business and the discovery of the importance of the small depositor, which has given banking a broader public character.”

The American Jewish Committee said that it was most important that the “willingness to hire Jews, expressed by higher level banking officials, be more conscientiously transmitted to the middle and lower levels and to university placement officials. ” In the future, the report noted, the problem will be twofold: “removal of those factors in banking personnel procurement that remain resistant to change and overcoming among Jews their own stereotypes of banking and sensitivity resulting from cultural conditioning.”

The president of the Federal Reserve Bank in Philadelphia, Karl R. Bopp, in an introduction to the study, declared that the country’s future economic growth and security requires utilization of the talents and energies of “all our people, irrespective of race, religion, or ethnic origin. “Mr. Bopp noted that “prejudice and outmoded attitudes with regard to members of the Jewish faith still exist” and that “this remains a disturbing problem. ” He added:”What is encouraging is that bankers are aware of it and are addressing themselves to it.”

In a supplementary study, the AJC’s Philadelphia Chapter surveyed career interests and choices of Jewish college students in Philadelphia.The survey found that more than half the students felt that discrimination exists in a number of fields and played an important part in hiring and promotion. One out of four students responded that the feeling of discrimination influenced their choice of careers.

In addition, “more than half listed one or more fields of work from which they feel that Jews are barred” by exclusionary practices. These fields include: Large corporations, heavy industry, banks and insurance companies.