The insurance industry outpaces other financial services sectors in its representation of women in management positions, but lags when it comes to minorities in management positions, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

The insurance sector consistently had the highest proportion of women in management positions, followed by banks and other credit institutions, according to written testimony of Daniel Garcia-Diaz, GAO’s director, financial markets and community investment, submitted to the subcommittee on diversity and inclusion of the U.S. House of Representatives’ Financial Services Committee. The proportion of women in management decreased in each sector except for the insurance sector, where it increased by 1.9 percentage points to 49.6% in 2015, according to a GAO analysis of Equal Employment Opportunity Commission data.

But while the representation of minorities increased in all four sectors of the financial services industry – banks and other credit institutions, securities and other activities, insurance, and funds and trusts – minority representation was lowest in the insurance sector at 19.2%, according to the report.

A variety of challenges exist to recruiting a diverse workforce for the financial services sector, including “negative perceptions of the financial services industry that might discourage potential candidates and a lack of awareness of career paths in the industry,” the GAO said.

The agency identified several practices believed or found to be effective for recruiting women and racial/ethnic minorities while conducting its research, including recruiting students from a broad group of schools and academic disciplines and offering programs to increase awareness of careers in financial services.

“Financial services firms and other sources also noted challenges to retaining women and racial/ethnic minorities,” the report stated. “For example, some representatives of financial firms noted that employee resistance, particularly from middle-managers, poses a challenge to diversity efforts. In addition, officials from some organizations we interviewed noted that unconscious bias can negatively affect women and minorities.”

The GAO identified practices that may help improve the retention of women and racial/ethnic minorities, including establishing management-level accountability and possibly holding management accountable for workforce diversity goals via a “diversity scorecard,” which is a set of objectives and measures derived from a firm’s overall business strategy and linked to its diversity strategy. Tying senior managers’ compensation to diversity goals has also been an effective practice for retaining women and minorities, according to the GAO.