Meet the 7 bankers from minority-owned investment banks that are proving they can lead bond deals like Wall Street’s biggest lenders

• Companies are waking up to the idea of greater diversity in their banking groups.
• Minority-owned firms have shown they can lead bond deals without a bulge-bracket lender.
• Insider spoke with seven bankers about their journey to create greater equity on Wall Street.

When Allstate bought the personal insurer National General last summer, the company needed funds from the bond market to support the acquisition.

Allstate, a well-known bond issuer, could have visited the capital markets with ease, but CFO Mario Rizzo wanted to try something different.

He approached CEO Thomas Wilson about appointing a minority-owned firm to lead the deal alongside Allstate’s usual suite of Wall Street banks.