Feb 16 (Reuters) – Goldman Sachs is preparing to eliminate race, gender identity, sexual orientation, and other diversity-related factors from ‌the criteria its board uses to assess prospective candidates, ‌The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Since taking ​office last year, U.S. President Donald Trump has launched a broad campaign against diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices in both the government and the private sector, alleging that these programs are discriminatory.

Several corporate ‌giants including Morgan Stanley ⁠and Citi have softened their diversity commitments amid pressure from the Trump administration.

Goldman’s decision follows a request ⁠from the conservative activist nonprofit National Legal and Policy Center, a small shareholder in the bank, the WSJ report said, adding that the ​group ​submitted a proposal last September urging ​the firm to remove ‌the DEI criteria.

Reuters could not immediately verify the WSJ report.

Goldman Sachs declined a Reuters’ request for comment.

Last year, the Wall Street bank removed an entire “diversity and inclusion” section from its annual filing, after ending its four-year-old diversity policy that required companies to have at least ‌two diverse board members before being ​advised on initial public offerings (IPOs).

The board’s ​governance committee currently identifies qualified ​candidates based on four primary criteria, including a ‌broad definition of diversity that covers ​viewpoints, background, professional ​and military experience, as well as other demographic considerations, according to the WSJ report on Monday.

The committee now plans ​to remove references to ‌those additional demographic factors, including race, gender identity, ethnicity ​and sexual orientation, the report said.

(Reporting by Devika Nair ​in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)