The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act's overall purpose was to reform and diversify the financial services industry. It seeks to create a culture of responsibility and accountability in an industry where opportunities for improvement are many, in recent years. Section 342 of Dodd-Frank specifically authorizes the government to require financial institutions to recruit diverse candidates and to fully develop women and minorities in all aspects of business.

This law governs federal financial agencies, including the Securities and Exchange Commission, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Federal Reserve Board, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Department of the Treasury, National Credit Union Administration, Federal Housing Finance Agency and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau), entities that contract with these agencies, and financial organizations governed by these entities. In other words, pretty much everyone in the financial services industry, and those that serve the financial services industry, are governed by Dodd-Frank and therefore Section 342.

Section 342's requirement to promote diversity demands that each of the nine federal agencies create an internal Office of Minority and Women Inclusion (OMWI). These offices are mandated to promote diversity, recruit diverse candidates and handle diversity management and retention. Each individual OMWI office develops their own procedures, and oversees the “fair inclusion and utilization of minorities in the agency's workforce” as it pertains to the entities they regulate. As of this writing, it seems that six of the nine government agencies are working together on their guidelines. The other three seem to each be developing their own set of guidelines.