Despite “modest progress in gender and racial diversity”, the Federal Reserve’s leading officials continue to be mostly white and male, said a coalition of campaign groups.

The Fed Up alliance also said that the regional reserve banks fail to represent a broad cross-section of economic and social sectors.

In its annual “Analysis of Diversity in Federal Reserve Leadership”, the campaigners found that 56% of regional reserve bank directors are male and 66% white. Only 14% of the 105 regional