Royal Bank of Canada adds former indigenous charity head to board

(Reuters) – Royal Bank of Canada, the country’s largest lender, added Roberta Jamieson, former chief executive officer of indigenous charity Indspire, to its board on Wednesday.

Jamieson will join the governance and risk committees as part of her duties, effective Aug. 1, RBC said.

Indspire is a national indigenous registered charity that invests in the education of First Nations, Inuit and Métis people across Canada.

Jamieson is also on the board of Deloitte Canada and is co-chair of the Indigenous Advisory Council of the Canadian National Railway Co.

The move comes at a time when diversity, particularly in the executive and board ranks, has come under increased scrutiny.

Last month, TD Bank Group named Chief Financial Officer Riaz Ahmed chief executive of its securities unit and head of wholesale banking, making it one of Canada’s six biggest lenders to have a non-Caucasian at its helm.

(Reporting by Rithika Krishna in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)