Minorities collectively represented 26.8% of the NCUA's workforce in 2013, according to a report sent to Congress on Monday from the agency's Office of Minority and Women Inclusion.

The NCUA said the 2013 total was 1.6% higher than 2011. In addition, the total dollar awards given to women and minority-owned businesses last year was $8.3 million – a 137% increase from the prior year.

“(The) NCUA is absolutely committed to developing a stronger, more diverse workplace where everyone's talents are recognized and opportunities abound,” NCUA Board Chairman Debbie Matz said on Monday. “We take this responsibility very seriously as part of the overall effort to make the agency an employer of choice. We are likewise committed to expanding the opportunities for minority- and women-owned companies to do business with NCUA.”

The Office of Minority and Women Inclusion, established under the Dodd-Frank Act, also reported that women represented 43.7% of total employees at the NCUA in 2013 and 42.6% of the agency's senior staff.

African Americans represented 14.5% of total employees at the agency and 7.4% of senior staff. Hispanic Americans represented 4.4% of all employees and 3.7% of senior staff. Asian Americans, which include Native Hawaiians or Pacific Islanders, represented 5.8% of all employees and 3.7% of senior staff.

The Office of Minority and Women Inclusion, established on Jan. 21, 2011, is responsible for assessing the diversity policies and practices of the NCUA's regulated entities as well as monitoring and established diversity practices among the NCUA's management.

Last week, Democrats on the House Financial Services Committee called for a review of internal practices at federal agencies including the NCUA in light of discrimination allegations involving the CFPB.

The Democratic members of the committee later requested the cancellation of a hearing scheduled by Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) focused on the allegations.

“We are very concerned with claims of discrimination at the CFPB and have requested that the Inspector General investigate those allegations, as well as personnel practices within all federal financial agencies. However, we take exception with the unorthodox manner in which the upcoming hearing was empaneled and organized,” the lawmakers wrote to Hensarling in a letter dated March 28.