Commissioner Says Insurance Industry Spent $2.1B with California Diverse Businesses

Diverse California businesses supplied $2.1 billion in goods and services to insurance companies last year, a 16.7% increase since 2018.

That’s according to the latest California Insurance Diversity Survey results released by Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara.

Of the $2.1 billion spent with diverse businesses in 2019, women-owned businesses received roughly half of the total diverse spend, according to Lara.

“Our long-standing Insurance Diversity Initiative is a national model for increasing business opportunities for minority, women, disabled veteran, and LGBTQ – owned businesses and the department’s diversity survey analysis presented today shows our efforts are paying dividends and having a tangible impact for California’s diverse business owners,” Lara said in a statement. “While procurement from diverse suppliers still doesn’t reflect the reality of the diverse landscape in California, the insurance industry is headed in the right direction and I look forward to seeing even more progress in the years ahead, especially as small businesses and the state continues its recovery from the pandemic.”

The department’s Insurance Diversity Initiative also looks at the diversity within the boardrooms of California insurance companies. Among the 250 insurance companies that responded in 2018 and the 260 companies that responded in 2019, 21.8% and 20.3% respectively reported zero women while 48.1% and 35.8% reported zero members from racial and ethnic communities on their company boards.

Topics California Market